Authors' objectives: We identified research evidence that partially answered the two questions about the effects of task sharing in endoscopy and follow-up of patients in outpatient clinics. For the other questions, we identified no research evidence.

Authors' recommendations: The available evidence suggests that there may not be large differences for some outcomes in task-shifting for nurses and doctors in both endoscopy and follow-up of patients in outpatient clinics. The evidence for several other important outcomes is insufficient, which means that we cannot determine whether there may be significant differences in health care or costs between using nurses or doctors. A key issue concerning task sharing is patient safety; will new ways of organising tasks among health professions affect patient safety? Especially, will there be differences in prevalence of rare events, such as the incidence of perforation by sigmoidoscopy? In such cases, one must have a large amount of patient data to get a sufficient number of events to detect any potential difference. Wide confidence intervals indicate that the studies have not included a sufficient number of participants. To answer the question about task sharing and patient safety, there is a need for more studies with sufficient sample size to find the minimum difference that could be reasonable to exclude an important difference or not - i.e. equivalence studies or non-inferiority studies.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2013

URL for published report: http://www.kunnskapssenteret.no/publikasjoner/effekter-av-oppgavedeling-for-noen-utvalgte-helsetjenester-i-sykehus?threepage=1

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Norway

Organisation Name: Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Contact Address: Universitetsgata 2, Postbox 7004 St. Olavs plass, NO-0310 Oslo NORWAY. Tel: +47 23 25 50 00; Fax: +47 23 25 50 10;

Contact Name: Berit.Morland@nokc.no, dagny.fredheim@nokc.no

Contact Email: Berit.Morland@nokc.no, dagny.fredheim@nokc.no

Copyright: Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC)