Nursing Assistant in Italy: The Principle of Delegation of Health Activities and Liability Profiles.
Background/Objectives: The institution of the nursing assistant (NA) profile in Italy, established by the Decree 28 February 2025 responds to the chronic shortage of healthcare personnel, especially in nursing. This figure, non-healthcare but trained to perform basic healthcare tasks, aims to suppor...
| Publicado en: | Nursing Reports Vol. 15; no. 12; pp. 443 - 452 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
Dec2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=190529982&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 190529982 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 2039439X EGNT jtl: Nursing Reports issn: 2039439X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 15 iid: 12 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 190529982 10.3390/nursrep15120443 190529982 ppf: 443 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Nursing Assistant in Italy: The Principle of Delegation of Health Activities and Liability Profiles. aug: au: TRonconi, Livio Pietro Bolcato, Vittorio Bianco Prevot, Luca Basile, Giuseppe affil: Department of Health and Life Science, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy sug: subj: Certified Nursing Assistants Italy Delegation of Authority Health Personnel, Unlicensed Professional Role Health Care Delivery Italy Continuity of Patient Care Support, Psychosocial Multidisciplinary Care Team Scope of Practice Teamwork Diet Hydration Status Drug Administration Simulations Prehospital Care Emergency Care Accountability Supervisors and Supervision Long Term Care Pain Management Vital Signs Electrocardiography ab: Background/Objectives: The institution of the nursing assistant (NA) profile in Italy, established by the Decree 28 February 2025 responds to the chronic shortage of healthcare personnel, especially in nursing. This figure, non-healthcare but trained to perform basic healthcare tasks, aims to support nurses and ensure continuity of care, especially in community and long-term care settings, through further nursing activities delegation. The model aligns with international practices, emphasizing delegation within multiprofessional teams, based on formalized protocols and continuous on-site training, within standardized, low-discretion contexts. The delegation of health activities, however, presents legal and medico-legal challenges regarding scope of practice and supervision. Methods: The aim of this paper is critically discussing delegation of health activities to non-healthcare providers and the related issues of liability in team-based delivery of care, considering the specific regulatory setting of health providers in Italy. Results: Critical activities such as nutrition and hydration, in particular artificially, and drug administration highlight the limits of delegation and the ongoing need for professional nurse oversight. In pre-hospital emergency care, standardized, protocol-based systems and simulation-based training successfully integrate non-healthcare personnel within the health team. Conversely, chronic and long-term care remain fragmented, lacking organizational maturity, regular supervision, and uniform regulation. Conclusions: The decree represents a step toward structured team-based care, but its success depends on robust governance, protocol clarity, organizational guidelines, and sustained practice-based education to prevent unsafe delegation and unauthorized practice. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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