POLICY IMPLICATIONS WHEN CHANGING STAFF MIX

The author examines staff mix models and the concerns raised with thei r implementation, with the intent of suggesting potential areas for de veloping administrative policies to deal with the related issues. The role of the unregulated worker should be developed and conceptualized as complementary to that of the nurse, thus educational programs for t he nurse must include a heavy emphasis on coordinating, supervising an d managing the care provided by other members of the care delivery tea m. Literature describing a wide variety of assistive roles was examine d resulting in a basic separation into two sub-categories; assistive r oles with a patient care focus, and assistive roles with a patient car e unit focus. Patient care assistive roles were further subdivided int o those that could be considered nurse extender models, nurse extender partnership models, partnership models, and associated care delivery redesign approaches.