The fundamentals of professional regulation

Regulation or deregulation is becoming an increasingly important issue in society. Health care is one target in the debate about the nature, amount and locus of control necessary to ensure safe health services to all. As professionals responsible for providing a part of the essential health services, nurses are caught up in the movement. Therefore nursing has an obligation to understand and participate in the development, administration and monitoring of all types of regulatory controls that touch on nursing education and practice, and the healthcare services themselves.