Nomenclature and classification of health personnel

Recognizing the widespread need to use partially-trained health personnel that exists in the under-developed countries today, the author discusses general principles for selecting the appropriate categories of auxiliary health workers to meet individual needs, together with ways of utilizing their services to the best advantage, bearing in mind always the ultimate goal of comprehensive health services, staffed by fully-trained professional workers.The value to be derived from establishing some degree of comparability in nomenclature and classification of health workers is self-evident. After analysing several types of such staff, the author advocates a departure from the more usual method of classification by function alone, in view of the fact that there is frequently a wide disparity from one country to another in the work done by similarly designated personnel. He suggests as a possible substitute, a method of classification by functional categories, at the same time taking account of general education and technical training. This method is likely to be more helpful for assessing a country's needs and for purposes of international comparison.