Union leader says hospital staff misuse healthcare assistant title

Staff at Landspítali hospital continue to introduce themselves to patients as healthcare assistants without holding the required licence, the chair of the Icelandic Healthcare Assistants’ Association told Morgunblaðið.

Sandra B. Franks said she had witnessed this herself and that the association had repeatedly raised the issue with hospital managers. She said a reminder sent to department heads last winter had not stopped the practice.

Franks said she understood the hospital’s staffing pressures. Nursing students, specialist staff and others are sometimes assigned to cover healthcare assistant shifts when assistants are unavailable, she said. But they should not present themselves to patients as healthcare assistants unless they are licensed to do so.

She described cases in which an employee introduced themselves as a healthcare assistant and wrote their name on a board beside a patient’s bed. In those circumstances, she said, the patient had no reason to think otherwise.

Landspítali said the issue had been discussed with the association, including a review of nursing students’ job descriptions and duties. The hospital said students work according to defined job descriptions and that some of their tasks overlap with those of healthcare assistants, just as some duties overlap between healthcare assistants and nurses.

The title of healthcare assistant is legally protected. Under Section 10 of the Health Care Practitioners Act, people without a valid licence from the Director of Health may not use a protected professional title. Regulations on healthcare assistants’ education, rights and duties also state that only those licensed by the Director of Health may use the title or work in that role.

Franks said healthcare workers should introduce themselves in line with their education and position. She also called for students in health sciences to learn about professional rights and obligations at the start of their studies, and suggested they take a test on the relevant laws and regulations during their first semester.