Latest Resources

Health Workers' Attitudes toward Immigrant Patients: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Primary Health Care Services

This study aimed to examine attitudes of different health workers’ groups toward immigrant patients and to identify the associated factors. [from abstract]

Willingness of Lebanese Physicians in the United States to Relocate to Lebanon

The objectives of this study were to assess the willingness of Lebanese medical graduates practicing in the United States of America to relocate to Lebanon and the Arab Gulf region and to explore the factors associated with this willingness. [from abstract]

Factors Predicting Doctors' Reporting of Performance Change in Response to Multisource Feedback

Building on medical education and social psychology literature, the authors identified several factors that may influence change in response to multi-source feedback, which offers doctors feedback on their performance from peers (medical colleagues), coworkers and patients. [adapted from abstract]

Educational Interventions to Improve the Effectiveness in Clinical Competence of General Practitioners: Problem-Based Versus Critical Reading-Based Learning

This study evaluated the relative impact of two educational strategies, critical reading and problem based learning, on the clinical competence of general practitioners in a healthcare system characterized by excessive workload and fragmentation into small primary healthcare centers. [from abstract]

Learner Feedback and Educational Outcomes with an Internet-Based Ambulatory Curriculum: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

In this study, qualitative analysis of learner feedback gathered from an online medical education curriculum was used to identify themes of learner feedback, and changes to the online curriculum in response to this feedback were tracked. Learner satisfaction and knowledge gains were then compared from before and after implementation of learner feedback. [from abstract]

Using Scenarios to Assess the Future Supply of NHS Nursing Staff in England

This paper examines issues related to the future supply of registered nursing staff, midwives and health visitors in the National Health Service (NHS) in England at a time when there are major public sector funding constraints and as more of these staff are reaching retirement age. [from abstract]

Stigma and Discrimination Against People Living with HIV by Healthcare Providers, Southwest Ethiopia

This study was conducted to explore stigma and discrimination against PLHIV amongst healthcare providers in Jimma zone, Southwest Ethiopia. [from abstract]

Even if You Know Everything You Can Forget: Health Worker Perceptions of Mobile Phone Text-Messaging to Improve Malaria Case Management in Kenya

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study to investigate the perceptions and experiences of health workers involved in a a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention to improve health worker malaria case management in 107 government health facilities in Kenya. The intervention involved sending text-messages about paediatric outpatient malaria case-management accompanied by motivating quotes to health workers’ mobile phones. [from abstract]

Mobile Application Reinforces Frontline Health Workers' Knowledge, Confidence, and Credibility

In rural India, frontline health workers—called accredited social health activists (or ASHAs)—are improving the health of women and families in their own communities by offering key preventive health services. Through the Manthan Project, IntraHealth International is testing a promising multi-media mobile phone application called mSakhi as a tool to make ASHAs’ jobs both easier and more effective. [from author]

Building a National Model for Knowledge Exchange in Malawi: Findings From a Health Information Needs Assessment

This health information needs assessment, conducted in the capital city and 3 districts of Malawi from July 2009 to September 2009, aimed to determine access to, and need for, health information by health workers in HIV/AIDS and family planning/reproductive health at all levels of the health system. [adapted from abstract]

Qualitative Study of Health Information Needs, Flow, and Use in Senegal

Many health professionals and policymakers in Africa lack access to the information needed to make evidence-based decisions for effective health care. This study collected qualitative data from 75 key informants and members of two focus groups in Senegal on various aspects of health information needs, particularly in family planning and reproductive health, including information sources, strategies, and systems to transfer and share information; and barriers to accessing, sharing, and using health information. [from abstract]

Understanding Health Information Needs and Gaps in the Health Care System in Uttar Pradesh, India

To better understand health information needs and barriers across all of levels of the health care system, the authors conducted a needs assessment in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India to examine how health care workers define, obtain, and apply information in the course of their daily work. [adapted from abstract]

Strengthening Health Systems: A Health Information Needs Assessment in Uttar Pradesh, India

This study outlines a detailed analysis of the information needs of village health workers (ASHAs) in India to ascertain information needs, sources, and barriers at different levels of the health system; undertake an in-depth assessment of the health information needs of ASHAs; understand the role and functioning of health care networks; and assess access to and use of ICTs across different levels of the health system. [adapted from summary]

Implementing Nurse-Initiated and Managed Antiretroviral Treatment (NIMART) in South Africa: A Qualitative Process Evaluation of the STRETCH Trial

The STRETCH (Streamlining Tasks and Roles to Expand Treatment and Care for HIV) progra was an intervention implemented in South Africa to enable nurses providing primary HIV/AIDS care to expand their roles and include aspects of care and treatment usually provided by physicians. The effects of STRETCH on pre-ART mortality, ART provision, and the quality of HIV/ART care were evaluated through a randomised controlled trial. This study was conducted alongside the trial to develop a contextualised understanding of factors affecting the implementation of the program. [adapted from abstract]

Strengthening Church and Government Partnerships for Primary Health Care Delivery in Papua New Guinea: Lessons from the International Experience

This working paper outlines the current operational relationship between the government and church providers of primary health care in Papua New Guinea and presents findings from a literature review to determine the differences between primary health service provision by church-based organizations and government provision, and the characteristics of existing arrangements for governments to engage non-govenment, non-profit providers of primary health services. [adapted from introduction]

Physical and Psychosocial Work Environment Factors and Their Association with Health Outcomes in Danish Ambulance Personnel: A Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of this study was to compare health status and exposure to different work environmental factors among ambulance personnel and the core work force in Denmark; and to examine the association between physical and psychosocial work environment factors and different measures of health among ambulance personnel. [from abstract]

Preferences for Working in Rural Clinics among Trainee Health Professionals in Uganda: A Discrete Choice Experiment

This study investigated preferences for job characteristics among final year medical, nursing, pharmacy, and laboratory students at select universities in Uganda to elicit preferences for attributes of potential job postings they were likely to pursue after graduation. [adapted from abstract]

Factors and Symptoms Associated with Work Stress and Health-Promoting LIfestyles among Hospital Staff: A Pilot Study in Taiwan

Healthcare workers including physicians, nurses, medical technicians and administrative staff experience high levels of occupational stress as a result of heavy workloads, extended working hours and time-related pressure. The aims of this study were to investigate factors associated with work stress among hospital staff members and to evaluate their health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. [from abstract]

Teaching the Rational Use of Medicines to Medical Students: A Qualitative Research

The objectives of this study were develop and implement a discipline based on the World Health Organizations’s “Guide to Good Prescribing”; evaluate course acceptance by students; and assess the impact that the knowledge had on the students habits of prescribing medication in a university hospital in Brazil. [adapted from abstract]

Multifaceted Intervention to Improve Health Worker Adherence to Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Guidelines in Benin

This study evaluated a nintervention to support health workers after training in integrated management of childhood illness, a strategy that can improve outcomes for children in developing countries by encouraging workers’ use of evidence-based guidelines for managing the leading causes of child mortality. [from author]

Human Resources for Health Implications of Scaling Up For Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment, and Care: Thailand Rapid Situational Analysis

This report presents the findings and key messages for Thailand of a multicountry rapid situation analysis of the human resources for health implications for scaling up to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. [from summary]

Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan 2009 - 2018: Situation Analysis (Sri Lanka)

In this report, an attempt is made to provide a comprehensive
situation analysis of human resources in health in Sri Lanka together with a comprehensive assessment of the factors contributing to the present situation. [from introduction]

Impacts of e-health on the Outcomes of Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Where Do We Go from Here?

The objectives of this review were to highlight gaps in knowledge of the benefits of e-health and identify areas of potentially useful future research on e-health. The evidence collected focuses on the impact of e-health on systems facilitating clinical practice, institutional systems, and systems facilitating care at a distance. [adapted from author]

Improving Quality and Use of Data through Data-Use Workshops: Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania

This research attempted to test the hypothesis that health information systems data quality and data use are interrelated: poor quality data will not be used, and because they are not used, the data will remain of poor quality; conversely, greater use of data will help to improve their quality, which will in turn lead to more data use. [from introduction]

Improving Patient Access to Specialized Health Care: The Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This paper describes the development of a large, public telehealth system that supports primary care professionals in remote regions of the Brazilian as part of a government strategy to provide universal access to high-quality health care. Combining assistance and in-service education with simple and inexpensive technology, the telehealth model has been shown to be effective, technically feasible and economically viable. [adapted from publisher]