Human resources for health
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Task sharing, the involvement of non-specialists (non-physician clinicians or non-specialist physicians) in performing tasks originally reserved for surgeons and anesthesiologists, can be a potent strategy in bridging the vast human resource gap in surgery and anesthesia and bringing needed surgical care to the district level especially in low-resource countries. Although a common practice, the idea of assigning advanced tasks to less-specialized workers remains a subject of controversy. In order to optimize its benefits, it is helpful to understand the current task sharing landscape, its challenges, and its promise. ⋯ While most cadres were recognized by their governments as service providers, very few had scopes of practice that included task sharing of surgery or anesthesia. Key challenges to effective task sharing include specialists' concern about safety, weak training strategies, poor or unclear career pathways, regulatory constraints, and service underutilization. Concrete recommendations are offered.