In India, an organization named LifeSpring is challenging existing practices and assumptions about what health workers are allowed to do.

Human Resource Management

In India, an organization named LifeSpring is challenging existing practices and assumptions about what health workers are allowed to do.  It uses midwives to provide most of the care at maternity hospitals.  This allows fewer physicians to provide care for more patients and focus on those tasks that require a physician’s attention.  In the United States, MinuteClinic uses nurse practitioners rather than physicians to staff primary-care clinics.  In both examples, skills and training requirements are linked to the tasks at hand and can result in lower labor costs.

As a health care administrator, explain the job analysis method you would recommend to identify the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required for the position of nurse practitioner.  If the MinuteClinic noted above were in your health care organization, analyze cultural barriers (if any) you would face in substituting nurse practitioners in place of physicians?