Abstract
With many European countries facing health workforce shortages, especially in nursing, and an increasing demand for healthcare, the importance of healthcare assistants (HCAs) in modern healthcare systems is expected to grow. Yet HCAs’ knowledge, skills, competences and education are largely unexplored. The study ‘Support for the definition of core competences for healthcare assistants’ (CC4HCA, 2015–2016) aimed to further the knowledge on HCAs across Europe. This paper presents an overview of the position of healthcare assistants in 27 EU Member States (MSs) and reflects on the emerging country differences. It is shown that most learning outcomes for HCAs across Europe are defined in terms of knowledge and skills, often at a basic instead of more specialized level, and much less so in terms of competences. While there are many differences between MSs, there also appears to be a common, core set of knowledge and skills-related learning outcomes which almost all HCAs across Europe possess. Country differences can to a large extent be explained by the regulatory and educational frameworks in which HCAs operate, influencing their current and future position in the healthcare system. Further investments should be made to explore a common understanding of HCAs, in order to feed discussions at policy and organisational levels, while simultaneously investments in the development and implementation of context-specific HCA workforce policies are needed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1109-1117 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Health Policy |
| Volume | 122 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2018 |
Funding
The study ‘Support for the definition of core competences for healthcare assistants’ (CC4HCA) was funded by the EU Health Programme (2014-2020) in the frame of a service contract with the Consumers, Health and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) acting under the mandate from the European Commission. The content of this article represents the views of the contractor and is its sole responsibility; it can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or Chafea or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and/or Chafea do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this article, nor do they accept responsibility for any use made by third parties thereof. The funding source had no involvement in the conduct of the study but approved of the decision to submit this article for publication. The authors wish to thank Zoltán Aszalos (Semmelweis University, Hungary) and dr. Zoltán Balogh (Chamber of Hungarian Health Care Professionals, MESZK, Hungary) as members of the CC4HCA study consortium for their contributions to the project, without which this article would not have been possible. The authors also wish to thank all key informants who contributed to the accomplishment of the CC4HCA study. The study ?Support for the definition of core competences for healthcare assistants? (CC4HCA) was funded by the EU Health Programme (2014-2020) in the frame of a service contract with the Consumers, Health and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) acting under the mandate from the European Commission. The content of this article represents the views of the contractor and is its sole responsibility; it can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or Chafea or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and/or Chafea do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this article, nor do they accept responsibility for any use made by third parties thereof. The funding source had no involvement in the conduct of the study but approved of the decision to submit this article for publication. The authors wish to thank Zolt?n Aszalos (Semmelweis University, Hungary) and dr. Zolt?n Balogh (Chamber of Hungarian Health Care Professionals, MESZK, Hungary) as members of the CC4HCA study consortium for their contributions to the project, without which this article would not have been possible. The authors also wish to thank all key informants who contributed to the accomplishment of the CC4HCA study.
Keywords
- Europe
- Health human resources
- Health professionals
- Health workforce
- Healthcare assistants
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health Policy