Using role substitution to address the health workforce shortage and to facilitate integration?

The health workforce is perceived to be in short supply in most developed and developing countries. There are concerns that this could result in reduced coverage of health services and the delivery of suboptimal care. Strategies to address the health workforce shortage have focussed predominantly on recruitment and training, with relatively little regard to the equally important issue of retention. One approach that may improve job satisfaction, opportunities for specialisation and the workload of health workers, and thus, improve retention and more importantly, patient outcomes, is role substitution. Many complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners appear to be well placed in terms of educational preparation to substitute (either horizontally or vertically) a number of roles traditionally performed by conventional health disciplines. As well as the potential benefits to the health workforce and the quality of patient care, role substitution could provide an important first step toward integrating CAM practitioners into mainstream health care settings.