Skill mix of nurses and primary health care professionals: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy of skill mix of nurses and other health care professionals in primary health care. Methods. Systematic review of the literature aligned with the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), including observational and intervention studies. No restrictions were established for period or country of publication; studies published in Spanish, English and Portuguese were included. The search was carried out in MEDLINE, CINAHL, LILACS, EMBASE and Web of Science electronic databases. Results. Eighteen studies were analyzed, including 6 from the United States; 3 from the Netherlands; 2 from the United Kingdom; 1 each from Australia, South Africa, South Korea, Scotland, Haiti and Japan; and 1 study with a prospective observational design from 8 countries. The studies reported that the skill mix among health professionals enables a better use of material resources; optimizes time spent on care; improves adhesion to treatment, quality of care and commitment and satisfaction with the work; and reduces the level of psychological distress in nursing professionals. Conclusions. The expansion of tasks of nurses and other health care professionals, and the skill mix as well as the development of interprofessional teams, are strategies that help to face a scarcity and poor distribution of human resources in urban and non-urban areas with improvement of the health care of the population and satisfaction of professionals and clients.