350 healthcare professionals join forces to shape the new law on healthcare professions
350 healthcare professionals collaborate at UHasselt to apply the new law for nurses in their departments and training programs. This new law, which assigns nurses additional tasks and roles, has been in effect since last year but still needs to be concretely implemented in practice. “That’s why, with support from the province of Limburg, we are bringing all Limburg healthcare institutions together in UHasselt’s THINK³ lab during this two-day event. Here, we aim to guide the implementation of the new law in various healthcare centers,” explain Prof. Dr. Jochen Bergs and Alexandra Cloostermans of UHasselt.
A new law to address healthcare challenges
The amendment to the law regulating healthcare professions took effect last year and aims to address the sector’s many challenges, including labor shortages. The law is intended to create a more structured form of care across hospitals, nursing homes, home care organizations, mental health centers, facilities for people with disabilities, and other institutions where nurses work.
New tasks and responsibilities
“Put simply, patient care tasks will now be more evenly distributed among different care profiles,” says Prof. Dr. Jochen Bergs, academic lead of UHasselt’s THINK³ Simulation & Innovation lab. “Previously, many care tasks, such as assisting with washing or eating, fell entirely on nurses. In the future, structured care teams will be formed, involving more diverse profiles such as physiotherapists, social workers, and even non-medical professionals or informal caregivers. This will result in a new division of tasks and responsibilities on the work floor. Nurses will have more autonomy to make decisions and collaborate within teams to delegate tasks to the most suitable profiles.”
Despite this structured framework, there is still uncertainty in the sector regarding practical implementation. Questions arise, for example, about scheduling: who needs to be present, what role each person should play, and who holds which responsibilities. “There are still many open questions,” says Uschi Colemonts, project coordinator at the Health Campus Innovation Fund at Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg. “The law provides a strong framework for matching care with the most appropriate caregiver, but it remains unclear how to organize this on the ground.”
A different status for nurses
In addition, European regulations require a distinction between nurses with a bachelor’s degree and those with an HBO5 diploma. This distinction is embedded in the new law, meaning that future nurses graduating with an HBO5 diploma will be classified as ‘basic nurses’ and assigned different responsibilities than those with a bachelor’s degree. “This difference wasn’t always as pronounced in the past, which means that healthcare education programs in Belgium will need to update their curricula and place new emphasis on certain areas to better prepare future nurses for their roles,” says Alexandra Cloostermans, lab manager at the THINK³ lab.
Addressing workplace challenges
To resolve the uncertainties surrounding the law and provide support to healthcare institutions and training programs, the THINK³ lab, in collaboration with 17 healthcare organizations in Limburg, is hosting a two-day event. “At our THINK³ lab, part of Health Campus Limburg, we focus on developing new processes and systems for healthcare. During this event, we bring together 350 healthcare professionals and trainers to brainstorm through workshops using strategic thinking, critical thinking, and design thinking. The goal is to explore how this new law can be implemented in their departments or training programs,” says Prof. Dr. Jochen Bergs. “It’s inspiring to see so many diverse organizations coming together to share ideas and improve healthcare in our country.”
Support from the Province of Limburg
This event is one of the projects supported by the Health Campus Innovation Fund, an initiative of the Province of Limburg, POM Limburg, and UHasselt to foster healthcare innovation through Health Campus Limburg DC. Deputy for Economy and chairman of POM Limburg, Tom Vandeput, elaborates: “Our healthcare sector faces major challenges, such as staffing shortages. One in five Limburg residents works in healthcare. To safeguard the quality of care, innovation in workforce organization is essential. With the Health Campus Innovation Fund, we support valuable projects that help healthcare organizations meet these challenges. The overwhelming interest in this symposium demonstrates how urgent the need for solutions is in the sector.” The third application round for the Innovation Fund runs until mid-March.
