Group Work. Discuss Pros and Cons of telemedicine. Fill in the chart below.

Present your ideas to your groupmates

Intensive reading

Read the title of the text. Predict what the text is about.

31. Explain who is a ‘ health professional ’.

Read the text and decide if the title of the text corresponds to the main idea.

Healthcare professional

A health professional may operate within all branches of health care, including medicine, surgery, dentistry, midwifery, pharmacy, psychology, nursing or allied health professions. A health professional may also be a public/community health expert working for the common good of the society. Healthcare practitioners include physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, surgeons, midwives, therapists, social workers, medical laboratory scientists and a wide variety of other human resources trained to provide some type of health care service. They often work in hospitals, healthcare centers and other service delivery points, but also in academic training, research and administration. Some provide care and treatment services for patients in private homes. Many countries have a large number of community health workers who work outside formal healthcare institutions. Healthcare practitioners are commonly grouped into health professions. Within each field of expertise, practitioners are often classified according to skill level and skill specialization. “Health professionals” are highly skilled workers, in professions that usually require extensive knowledge including university-level study leading to the award of a first degree or higher qualification. This category includes physicians, physician assistants, dentists, midwives, radiographers, registered nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, optometrists, operating department practitioners and others. Allied health professionals, also referred to as "health associate professionals" in the International Standard Classification of Occupations, support implementation of health care, treatment and referral plans usually established by medical, nursing, and other health professionals, and usually require formal qualifications to practice their profession. In addition, unlicensed assistive personnel assist with providing health care services as permitted. Another way to categorize healthcare practitioners is according to the sub-field in which they practice, such as mental health care, pregnancy and childbirth care, surgical care, rehabilitation care, or public health. A physician or other qualified health care professional is an individual who is qualified by education, training, licensure/regulation (when applicable), and facility privileging (when applicable) who performs a professional service within his/her scope of practice and independently reports that professional service. These professionals are distinct from clinical staff. According to the same instructions, “clinical staff” is defined as follows: a clinical staff member is a person who works under the supervision of a physician or other qualified health care professional and who is allowed by law, regulation, and facility policy to perform or assist in the performance of a specified professional service, but who does not individually report that professional service. Other policies may also affect who may report specific services. Under this definition of clinical staff, only those who are “licensed” in the state are considered “clinical staff”.

33. Read the text and try to explain the meaning of the words in italic. Divide the text into abstracts.