Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26245622›Full record

ReviewAfrican journal of primary health care & family medicine2015

Trends in task shifting in HIV treatment in Africa: Effectiveness, challenges and acceptability to the health professions.

Talitha Crowley, Pat Mayers

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in African journal of primary health care & family medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed
12.1field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 74 citations in OpenAlex.

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  13. The role of clinical associates in South Africa as a health workforce: A scoping review.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Talitha CrowleyDepartment of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. tcrowley@sun.ac.za.
Pat Mayers
Stellenbosch University · ZAUniversity of Cape Town · ZA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTask shifting has been suggested to meet the demand for initiating and managing more patients on antiretroviral therapy. Although the idea of task shifting is not new, it acquires new relevance in the context of current healthcare delivery.

aimTo appraise current trends in task shifting related to HIV treatment programmes in order to evaluate evidence related to the effectiveness of this strategy in addressing human resource constraints and improving patient outcomes, challenges identified in practice and the acceptability of this strategy to the health professions.

methodElectronic databases were searched for studies published in English between January 2009 and December 2014. Keywords such as 'task shifting', 'HIV treatment', 'human resources' and 'health professions' were used.

resultsEvidence suggests that task shifting is an effective strategy for addressing human resource constraints in healthcare systems in many countries and provides a cost-effective approach without compromising patient outcomes. Challenges include inadequate supervision support and mentoring, absent regulatory frameworks, a lack of general health system strengthening and the need for monitoring and evaluation. The strategy generally seems to be accepted by the health professions although several arguments against task shifting as a long-term approach have been raised.

conclusionTask shifting occurs in many settings other than HIV treatment programmes and is viewed as a key strategy for governing human resources for healthcare. It may be an opportune time to review current task shifting recommendations to include a wider range of programmes and incorporate initiatives to address current challenges.

Indexed as

Delegation, ProfessionalEfficiency, OrganizationalAfricaAnti-HIV AgentsCost-Benefit AnalysisHIV InfectionsHumansAnti-HIV Agents

Identifiers

PMID26245622
PMCPMC4564830
OpenAlexW2138349166

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.