Task-sharing: leveraging student nurses in low-resource settings
Abstract
Objective
To observe 4 graduate students from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) who participated in an experiential educational initiative at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan, Nepal, in January 2024.
Methods
The students engaged in diverse rotations across multiple wards, including community health, labor and delivery, emergency, psychiatric, and pediatric care.
Results
Observations revealed that nursing students in Nepal undertake significant responsibilities and assume the roles that are often reserved for more senior professionals in the U.S. The study highlights how task sharing and task shifting (TS/S) models, where tasks are redistributed among health care workers, including students, can address staffing shortages and enhance care delivery in low-resource settings and in times of crisis.
Conclusions
Despite some challenges such as the potential for increased workload and the need for clear role definitions, the TS/S approach offers a promising strategy for improving health care efficiency and providing valuable learning experiences. This commentary suggests that incorporating nursing students into TS/S models not only supports immediate health care needs but also prepares them for independent practice upon graduation. This reflective commentary could offer insights into optimizing health care education and delivery in both resource-constrained environments and broader health care systems.
© 2026 Hannah Scranton, Nicole Balinski, Melanie Schatz, Kelsey Sabo, Nirmala Pokharel, Sami Lama, Sapana Shrestha, Catherine Ling, Angela Chang Chiu, published by Shanxi Medical Periodical Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.