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Redefining Roles: The Power of Shifting Competencies in Healthcare

The Joint Action (JA) HEROES initiative was established to promote collaborative learning and the exchange of best practices in health workforce planning. A key objective is to ensure that all participating countries and stakeholders benefit from the project’s high-quality outcomes and the insights gained from implementing new planning strategies. This goal was central to the latest Community of Practice meeting on 5 February 2025, which focused on the transfer of competencies between health professionals.
Shifting healthcare competencies offers both opportunities and challenges. Expanding roles, telehealth, and AI enhance patient-centered care, increase access, and address workforce shortages. However, resistance to change, regulatory barriers, and training disparities remain challenges. Success requires effective collaboration, policy reform, and a strong focus on patient safety. This discussion explores how these shifts can transform healthcare while addressing implementation complexities.

Here are the highlights of the session’s speakers:

Part 1: Introduction and Presentation. Xavier Nieto

The fifth Community of Practice meeting focused on “Shifting Competencies Between Health Professionals.”
As healthcare evolves, redistributing competencies among professionals is essential to meet changing patient needs, leverage technology, and enhance team-based care. Traditional roles are shifting due to demographic changes, workforce shortages, policy reforms, and advancements in digital health. This transformation optimizes patient outcomes and ensures healthcare system sustainability. Understanding these driving factors is key to managing competency shifts effectively. The redistribution of responsibilities impacts patients, providers, and healthcare systems, highlighting the need for strategic planning, collaboration, and regulatory adaptation to maintain quality care and efficiency.

Part 2: Experts’ Introductory Speeches:

Healthcare workforce needs are highly dependent on organizational model, Beatriz González López-Valcárcel
Health workforce needs depend on the chosen organizational model, alongside demographic and technological factors. These needs are defined by the ability to achieve health outcomes based on medical knowledge, often measured through professional-to-population ratios. Standards may be legally mandated or expert-driven. Organizational changes can impact workforce needs, such as centralization of hospitals to improve quality and efficiency, technology-driven remote care reducing specialist demand, and emerging professions reallocating tasks. For example, England introduced 18 new primary care roles by 2020, while Spain’s clinical assistant role is reshaping workforce distribution, optimizing healthcare delivery, and improving resource allocation.

Shifting competencies in the health sector: what does it mean? Xavier Bayona on behalf of Xavier Saballs
Shifting competencies in healthcare involves redistributing tasks among professionals to optimize efficiency, address workforce shortages, and enhance patient care. This includes expanding roles for nurses, physician assistants, general practitioners, and caregivers while integrating technology like AI and telemedicine. Effective implementation requires policy alignment, workforce planning, structured training, and digital integration. Key challenges include regulatory barriers, resistance to change, and quality assurance. Success depends on clear communication, staff engagement, and continuous performance monitoring. A structured approach ensures that competency shifts improve healthcare delivery while maintaining safety, compliance, and workforce satisfaction in an evolving healthcare landscape.

Part 3: Roundtable Discussion with Expert guests:

Antoni Peris Grao, CASAP, Sharing leadership, role shifting from family doctors to nurses in a primary care team
Empowering each professional group to work at their highest competency level enhances problem-solving capacity and improves the comprehensiveness of care within Primary Care Teams. Successfully shifting tasks requires strong managerial commitment to support role changes. Health administrators, as non-clinical professionals, play a crucial role in advancing primary care by managing key operational activities. Effective management support and targeted training are essential to fostering professional growth and facilitating the seamless redistribution of responsibilities, ensuring a more efficient and responsive healthcare system.

Sergi Garcia Redondo, BSA, Modification of the nursing role: from the transfer of skills to professional development in a Community Hospital
A well-functioning healthcare system relies on a balanced relationship between patients, professionals, and the system itself. Successful task shifting requires mutual benefits for all stakeholders. BSA’s model enhances resource efficiency and improves care quality. The introduction of Advanced Practice Nurses has reduced waiting times and strengthened the nursing profession’s role. Transparency and subsidiarity are key guiding principles, ensuring accountability and effective delegation. A truly efficient system is built on clear roles, trust, and collaboration among healthcare professionals, patients, and management.

Sheila Juan Franco, HSJD, Role of the Medical Assistant in a High Technology Pediatric Monographic Hospital
The Medical Assistant role in a high-tech pediatric specialty hospital was established to enhance patient care and improve hospital efficiency. By handling administrative tasks, these professionals support medical and nursing staff, allowing them to focus on patient consultations, research, and academic activities. Their duties include scheduling management, care coordination, and tracking medical procedures, ensuring seamless operations. This role has significantly reduced waiting times, streamlined workflows, and increased patient satisfaction. Moving forward, the focus will be on further optimizing processes and enhancing teamwork through improved communication and targeted training initiatives.

Part 4: Closing and Next Steps. Xavier Bayona

The shifting competencies among healthcare professions represent a paradigm shift in the way care is delivered. This evolution is driven by the need to adapt to an ever-changing healthcare landscape, characterized by increasing complexity and demand. While challenges exist, the opportunities for enhancing access, quality, and efficiency are immense. By embracing this change and fostering collaboration, the healthcare sector can ensure that it meets the needs of patients and communities in the years to come. This discussion sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the mechanisms, benefits, and challenges associated with this transformative movement in healthcare.