New division of competencies in medicine. Kęcka: we need to use the potential of human resources more effectively

On October 30, the Health Ministry held the first meeting of a team tasked with sorting out the competencies of the health professions. The idea is to develop a new model in which the cascading sharing of competencies - and responsibilities - of the various professions will be implemented. At a joint press conference, Deputy Minister Kęcka noted that the first meeting has already allowed us to obtain information showing that some of the tasks being carried out are common to all. - This means that we can share these tasks in order to take better care of the patient, improve efficiency, availability of health services, she said. In her opinion, staffing problems are largely due to the failure to use the potential of those employees who are in the system

The starting point for solving problems is to cascade competencies. - The idea is to transfer some of the tasks to other professional groups that have the appropriate qualifications and staff resources. One example is prescribing, that is, nurses prescribing prescriptions. This is already happening," she stressed.

The deputy minister pointed out how dynamically not only the health care system is changing, but its environment, including technology. - We need to start keeping up with the changes that's why we will be preparing to arrange certain tasks within the health professions with greater alignment with competencies, the needs of the system and the patient himself, she added. The changes, in her opinion, will benefit all employees. - Above all, the changes are expected to relieve the workload of the medical profession. This will be possible by transferring certain tasks to other medical professions that have the authority to do so. This is what the cascading of competencies is all about," she pointed out.

It wasn't said explicitly, but the nursing and midwifery professions are in the spotlight: there, the ordering of competencies is literally the requirement of the moment, because the health ministry wants to superimpose a description of competencies on a table with work factors and give hospital directors a precise tool for qualifying employees into particular groups to prevent further lawsuits, most often won by employees. Competencies, Catherine Kęcka assured, will also be described in other professions.

Mariola Lodzinska, president of the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives, pointed out that the various groups of medical professions do not know each other's competencies and whether they are being used, and what potential they have to streamline the system. - If we are talking about the professional group of nurses and midwives, there is a parallel team that is working to establish the areas of advanced nursing practice and the scope of medical activities. This is evidence that these competencies will mix and that we will enter the competencies of doctors in certain areas. These changes are in order to use nurses' competencies more effectively," she said, adding that broader competencies also mean greater professional responsibility.

Vice President of the Supreme Medical Council Klaudiusz Komor stressed that physicians have long been talking about the need to relieve them of some of their tasks, although his speech made it clear that this is by no means about competencies transferred to other medical professions. - We have been appealing for a long time, give us time for the patient, give us time to treat. At present, unfortunately, a large part of doctors' duties are administrative. This translates into a lack of time for the patient. Therefore, it is necessary to remove unnecessary administrative duties from physicians and delegate them to the relevant auxiliary professions," he pointed out.