Task Shifting: Considering Legal and Regulatory Barriers

There is a gross shortage of nurses, yet there is a need to provide quality care and defend patient care. Widening scope of practice is not new to all categories of nurses and given the Occupational Specific Dispensation for nurses there is a need to critically engage with these issues. We would like to: explore what is in this process for nurses, explore the impact on quality of care and service delivery, explore gender and professional implications, share information, opinion and experience, interrogate legal provisions within the Nursing Act and Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Acts, and explore health systems challenges of integration in task shifting. [adapted from author]