To meet the requirements of their field of work and the needs of patients and clients Health professionals need to have a wide range of competencies. With its publication “Professionsspezifische Kompetenzen” (profession-specific competencies), the Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences has published a document that applies to all health professionals with a degree from a Swiss university of applied sciences. It defines the skills that graduates must demonstrate on completing their studies. These final competencies, or learning outcomes, are regulated for the professions of nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, midwifery, nutrition and dietetics, optometry, and medical-technical radiology at the Bachelor's level, as well as for osteopathy at the Master's level, and they are mandatory for professional qualification.

In a condensed form, the seven roles described above and the subject-specific competencies associated with them have been adopted into Swiss law. The Swiss Healthcare Occupations Act came into force on 1 February 2020. As a result, uniform requirements for training and professional autonomy apply to seven health professions throughout Switzerland. Uniform educational requirements are necessary to ensure the quality of care. This is the goal of the Healthcare Occupations Act.

The Healthcare Occupations Act lists the overarching competencies, which are divided into general (Art. 3), personal, and social (Art. 4)competencies.

In its ordinance, the Healthcare Occupations Act specifies the profession-specific competencies that graduates of the respective degree programs need to acquire. These competencies are an accreditation requirement for the study programs themselves.