We are lead to believe licensing is a fundamental aspect of ensuring the competency and accountability of healthcare practitioners. Serving as a mechanism to protect the public from unqualified individuals who might compromise patient safety. 

However, the very license designed to uphold standards can become a double-edged sword, potentially turning healthcare providers into servants of regulators rather than advocates for their patients.

Has your license to practice become your greatest liability?

Healthcare practitioners, whether physicians, nurses, or other allied health professionals, invest years in education and training to acquire the skills necessary for their roles. Once licensed, they are expected to adhere to a set of regulations and guidelines set forth by regulatory bodies. While these regulations are intended to safeguard the public, we have seen they can create an environment where practitioners feel pressured to prioritise regulatory compliance to retain their status and income over the needs of those they swore to serve.

This was highlighted to me in 2020 when my former profession Physiotherapy, seemed more obsessed with masks, jabs and locking people in their homes than what I thought we knew at a core to be true

• fear is harmful
• exercise is great medicine
• lack of purpose is damaging
• masking people for prolonged periods causes hypoxia

Who do you truely serve the person in front of you or your regulator?

I was stunned it seemed every Physio in the country, except a select few hanging out on Telegram, had lost their marbles and sold out on the core principles of what I thought we all knew to be true.

And if you even believed CV19 was a thing, where were all the respiratory Physios... surely this was a career defining moment for them to share with the world their wisdom on the benefits of positioning, exercise and home care respiratory advice.

It sent me down a rabbit hole... and I wasn't alone

Who are actually are the professional bodies and regulators? 

Dr Mark Bailey answered this for me, when he unearthed the uncomfortable truth that the medical bodies and councils around the world are coordinated from central bodies.

Watch

Who turn employ agents to train you and regulate you. Meaning as a licensed healthcare professional you face the constant scrutiny of regulatory bodies but also the ever-looming threat of malpractice lawsuits if you step out side how they have trained you. 

This fear can lead practitioners to adopt defensive medicine practices, where they may be more inclined to order unnecessary tests or procedures solely to avoid potential legal consequences. 

The primary concern shifts from providing the best possible care for the patient to protecting oneself from legal repercussions.

Do their motives align with yours?

This raises the question, do the regulators motives align with yours and those you swore to serve?

The focus on regulatory compliance can strain the patient-provider relationship. This can lead to a de-personalized healthcare experience, where people feel like mere cases to be managed rather than individuals to be cared for.

Providers may feel compelled to follow predetermined pathways, potentially overlooking unique needs in the process and stifled in innovation and creative problem-solving.

What are you going to do about it?

I suggest at this point grabbing a blank piece of paper and allowing your mind to be liberated, free of fear and just imagine

• imagine you had no license
• you have your current skill set but no license or regulator to serve or control you with fear
• how would you share your knowledge and skills with the world
• what would it look like
• what would it feel like
• who needs it
• what you be the impact
• and what help would you require to make it reality

Grow your idea!

And then figure out the rest!

The risk if your don't is greater.... those with their own agency and no license or regulator are coming in and taking your space, solving health problems fearlessly and with great practicality!