Task shifting between physicians and nurses in acute care hospitals: cross-sectional study in nine countries

Table 2 Health professionals’ perceived changes to staff roles (2010/2011–2015/2016) and independence in task substitution (without physician supervision) by country and Scope-of-Practice

	Breast cancer		Acute myocardial infarction
	Changes to staff roles over past 5 years^a	Task substitution without physician supervision^b	Changes to staff roles over past 5 years^a	Task substitution without physician supervision^b
	% HP	% HP	% HP	% HP
Countries with SoP expansion [1]	74.0***	58.6***	61.7***	48.9***
Countries with no/limited SoP expansion [2]	38.7***	24.0***	37.3***	29.2***
By country
Netherlands	78.7°	51.3°	65.3	38.2
England (UK)	72.3	64.2	54.4	51.1
Scotland (UK)	73.6	55.3	65.9	53.3
Czech Republic	45.5	18.1	50.7	7.4
Germany	43.2	27.4	29.1	45.7
Italy	30.0°	–°°	64.8	51.4
Norway	38.7°	33.3°	44.2	30.4
Poland	43.5°	17.6°	28.7	36
Turkey	23.2	13.0°	21.9	25.9
Total average ^c	50.8***	41.2***	44.1***	36.9***
Total N	687	349	790	349

[1] England, Scotland, Netherlands, [2] Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Turkey
HP Health Professionals, SoP Scope-of-Practice
***p value < .001, ° = n < 50 observations, °° = value not shown, because n < 10 observations
^aWording in questionnaire: “Have staff roles changed on the [breast cancer/AMI, respectively] care pathway within the last 5 years?”
^bExact wording: “Tasks formerly done by physicians are now done by new professions or existing professions with new independent roles without supervision”
^cPearson chi-squared test comparing country-level mean with total average (all-country mean)

ISSN: 1478-4491