Exploring nursing skill mix: a review

The overall aims of the paper are to provide an overview of the subject, illustrate the need for further research and to raise awareness of the ongoing limitations of existing knowledge and present these to those involved in skill mix decision making.

Over the last 20 years health care organizations across the globe have seen an increase in the pace of change. The continuing drive towards cost-effectiveness, quality of care and the clinical governance agenda are causing more and more managers to examine closely the mix of staff skills. This paper demonstrates that, despite 20 years of research and skill mix management in practice, there continues to be a tension between the use of qualified and unqualified staff, particularly, the cost and quality dimensions.

The evidence which currently exists offers some limited support for the suggestion that redistribution of certain tasks in nursing could be possible and could contribute to strategies for meeting the demands of changes within health care delivery. Any reallocation of task, and substitution of qualified by unqualified staff, should be based on sound evidence and not merely on staff availability, service demand or apparent costs.