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In line with government initiatives, this series of studies was undertaken to establish the training and development needs of nurses and midwives working within a variety of contexts in Indonesia, with the ultimate aim of enhancing care provision within these domains. [from abstract]

The current study was part of a review of the existing complex system of midwifery training in Indonesia and the development of a coherent program of continuing professional development, tighter accreditation regulations and clearer professional roles.

This study aimed to establish the occupational profiles of each grade of nurse in Indonesia, identify their training and development needs and ascertain whether any differences existed between nurses working in different regions or within hospital or community settings. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to describe the profile of community health workers - health promoters, traditional birth attendants and traditional healers - in rural Quechua communities from Ayacucho, Peru.

This report is the result of a two-year project. The aim of the project was to examine the crucial issue of nursing shortages and identify priority areas for intervention. Five priority areas of intervention for ICN and nursing were identified: Macroeconomic and health sector funding policies; Workforce policy and planning, including regulation; Positive practice environments and organisational performance; Recruitment and retention, addressing in-country maldistribution, and out-migration; and Nursing leadership.

Measuring, managing and improving organisational performance are key considerations for individuals and teams charged with the responsibility for leading and managing NHS organisations. These are issues that are addressed by this resource, which has been developed specifically to support managers and leaders of NHS organisations to identify and act upon signs of performance decline and failure. [from executive summary]

This document is designed as a resource to support the 10 High Impact HR Changes as outlined in “A National Framework to Support Local Workforce Strategy Development.” These include: support and lead effective change management; develop effective recruitment, good induction and supportive management; develop shared service models and effective use of IT; manage temporary staffing costs; promote staff health and manage sickness absence; promote job and service re-design; develop and implement appraisal; involve staff and work in partnership to develop good employee relations; champion good peop

The main objective of the Ministry of Health (MOH) certification program, which will be called the Health Worker Certification System (HWCS), is to achieve a standard level of quality provided by all health workers. To achieve this level of quality it is critical that the skills of each health worker by certified through a competency-based test. This system of testing will require that all training of health workers in the future be focused on combining knowledge acquisition with hands-on competency based skills, rather than just didactic training. Refresher training and recertification will also be required in order to ensure a basic level of quality.

Most South Asian governments have concentrated on emulating a Western style of healthcare service, with the result that an elite few are overmedicalised whereas the majority are neglected. However, community participation in the development of local health services could provide a solution. [abstract]

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of health workers working in the primary health care facilities in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, in terms of their motivation to work, satisfaction and frustration, and to identify areas for sustainable improvement to the services they provide.

An approach to evidence-based policy development has been launched in Ghana which bridges the gap between research and programme implementation. The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Initiative has employed strategies tested in the successful Navrongo experiment to guide national health reforms that mobilize volunteerism, resources, and cultural institutions for supporting community-based primary health care.

In Indonesia responsibility for immunizations is placed on local government health centres and on the nurses who provide the immunizations at each centre. An on-the-job peer training programme for these nurses, which was designed to improve the immunization performance of poorly performing health centres in terms of coverage and practice in Maluku province, was evaluated. [from abstract]

This package includes Summary Document; Introduction to the Approach and Description of Facilitator Training; Facilitators’ Guide: Consultation I; and Facilitators’ Guide: Consultation II. The Community Problem Solving and Strategy Development (CPSSD) activities in Uganda have been designed to help health workers learn to work with communities, understand community perspectives about the services, and encourage community support and participation in the delivery of services, so that immunisation coverage is raised and sustained.

A number of ART projects are trying to tackle the HRH problematic by delegating certain tasks from medical doctors to other cadres. While this task-shifting is certainly an important step, we contend that it will not be enough for scaling up ART in the high HIV-prevalence countries with the most severe HRH shortages. In the present report we argue that an altogether different approach to HIV/AIDS care and treatment might be required for overcoming the HRH bottleneck. [from summary]

An honest and critical examination of the role of Health Care Professionals (HCPs) during communicable disease outbreaks is needed in order to provide guidelines regarding professional rights and responsibilities, as well as ethical duties and obligations. With this paper, we hope to open the social dialogue and advance the public debate on this increasingly urgent issue. [summary]

There have been reported shortages in both the regulated and unregulated workforce in New Zealand, in particular of medical practitioners, nurses in primary care, mental health professionals, allied and primary health professionals, Māori and Pacific practitioners, and support workers. There is also an ongoing issue of a maldistribution of workers between rural and urban locations. In the future, the constraints on labour supply in New Zealand will necessitate a much greater focus on growing the health workforce and improving the performance and productivity of the available workforce.

Credentialing of health care providers, facilities and educational institutions is an integral component in building and sustaining robust HRH systems. This technical brief examines the characteristics and potential advantages of credentialing mechanisms and common challenges faced in implementing them in low-resource settings. [from author]

A Village Development Committee Orientation organized to allow representatives of different organizations to discuss and identify causes of low coverage and high drop-out in their community. Special emphasis was placed on monitoring the immunization drop-out rate of each health facility. Indicators for VDCs have improved in 2003, and Parsa District is now regarded as one of the highest performing districts in the region.

Australia is experiencing workforce shortages across a number of health professions despite a significant and growing reliance on overseas trained health workers. The shortages are even more acute in rural and remote areas. It is critical to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the available health workforce, and to improve its distribution. This report describes the Australian government’s objectives of developing a more sustainable and responsive health workforce while maintaining a commitment to high quality and safe health outcomes. A set of national workforce objectives are also proposed.

Zambian nurses have been greatly affected by the rise in the morbidity and mortality of nurses with TB. This article explains the impact of TB on the Zambian nursing workforce. Review of Zambian government programmes designed to address this health crisis and targeted interventions to reduce TB among nurses are offered. [abstract]

Shortages of skilled health workers occur in most countries in the world, and most significantly in countries where education levels are relatively high. Migration has tended to be at some cost to relatively poor countries where the costs of production are considerable and losses are not compensated. The costs of global mobility are thus unevenly borne by the poorer source countries and the benefits are concentrated in the recipient countries. Since migration cannot be ended, and source countries have only limited scope for substantial policy change that will improve the number and status of health workers in the home countries, the onus has increasingly shifted towards the role of recipient countries in ensuring that, if migration is to continue, then it be more equitable and that there be adequate compensation for losses incurred in source countries.

The appealing, modern websites of the private agencies specializing in the recruitment of health care professionals for Western markets invite the loggers-on to explore a myriad of opportunities. So fierce is the competition to secure scarce health care professionals that private recruitment agencies stage promotional events and aggressive recruitment campaigns in supplying countries, tripping over each other to attract suitable candidates. How did the shortages of health care professionals become so acute, and how did international migration come to be viewed as one of the solutions to the problem?

To explore the extent, characteristics, incentives, effects and possible regulation of private medical practice in public facilities this study undertook a cross sectional quantitative

There are four types of health providers at present in China. These are defined in terms of differences in ownership. Private practice in the health sector was reintroduced from 1980, when China began its economic reform from a planned economy to a market economy. Dual practice (DP) is quite common and a major concern from the point of view of health policy-making as little is known about it. The aim of this study was to describe policies and regulations of DP, the current situation, its impact on access to services and physician behaviour, and to provide evidence for future policy decisions.

This paper evaluates structural quality of hospital care in the context of an evaluation of contracting out district hospital services in South Africa. Three contractor hospitals, run by a private company and paid by public purchasers to provide district hospital care to a rural catchment population, were matched with three adjacent public hospitals and three private hospitals serving largely insured patients. A structured instrument was used to provide a quantitative measure of structural quality. Private hospitals scored highest overall, followed by public and then contractor hospitals.