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Editorial
. 2025 Sep 1;64(3):129-132.
doi: 10.2478/sjph-2025-0016. eCollection 2025 Sep.

Improving Healthcare through the Skills Mix of the Workforce

Brigita Skela-Savič  1 , Mircha Poldrugovac  2 , Borut Jug  3
Affiliations
Editorial

Improving Healthcare through the Skills Mix of the Workforce

Brigita Skela-Savič et al. Zdr Varst. .

Abstract
in English, Slovenian

The latest definition of skill mix refers to changes in tasks, skills, competencies or roles within and between healthcare professionals and healthcare workers in three areas: Task shifting, role expansion and multi-professional collaboration. There is evidence of the effectiveness of many changes in the skill mix - particularly in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention, chronic disease management and care of vulnerable populations. The implementation of skill-mix approaches begins with interprofessional education, which emphasises collaborative practice aimed at fostering working relationships between two or more health professions. The evidence for the effectiveness of many skill mix changes should not be understood as a resource-neutral intervention. Changes in skill mix have implications for the structure of labour shortages, as workload shifts or increases. In addition, education and training interventions require time and resources and therefore considerable joint effort from the stakeholders involved.

Najnovejša definicija prepleta znanj in spretnosti se nanaša na spremembe v nalogah, spretnostih, kompetencah ali vlogah znotraj in med zdravstvenimi delavci in sodelavci na treh področjih: prenos nalog, razširitev vlog in večpoklicno sodelovanje. Obstajajo dokazi o učinkovitosti številnih sprememb v okviru prepleta znanj in spretnosti — zlasti na področjih promocije zdravja in preprečevanja bolezni, obvladovanja kroničnih bolezni in oskrbe ranljivega prebivalstva. Implementacija prepleta znanj in spretnosti se začne z medpoklicnim izobraževanjem, ki poudarja prakso sodelovanja in je namenjeno spodbujanju delovnih odnosov med dvema ali več zdravstvenimi poklici. Dokazov o učinkovitosti številnih sprememb v okviru prepleta znanj in spretnosti ne bi smeli razumeti kot intervencijo, ki ne vpliva na vire. Spremembe v prepletu znanj in spretnosti imajo učinek na strukturo pomanjkanja delovne sile, saj se delovna obremenitev spreminja ali povečuje. Poleg tega posegi na področju izobraževanja in usposabljanja zahtevajo čas in vire ter zato veliko skupnega truda vključenih deležnikov.

Keywords: Healthcare; Interprofessional education; Labour shortages; Multi-professional collaboration; Skill-mixing; Workforce.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

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