Latest Resources

Optimizing Performance and Quality

Optimizing Performance and Quality (OPQ) is a stakeholder-driven, cyclical process for analyzing human and organizational performance and setting up interventions to improve performance and quality or build on strengths and successes. The OPQ process is a seven-stage process to builds capacity within an organization to recognize and address problems or performance gaps on an ongoing basis. [from resource]

Health Seeking Behaviour and Challenges in Utilising Health Facilities in Wakiso District, Uganda

The health seeking behaviour of a community determines how they use health services. Utilisation of health facilities can be influenced by the cost of services, distance to health facilities, cultural beliefs, level of education and health facility inadequacies such as stock-out of drugs.
This study will assess the health seeking practices and challenges in utilising health facilities in a rural community in Wakiso district, Uganda. [from abstract]

Public Health Care for South African Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People: Health Rights Violations and Accountability Mechanisms

This study aimed to document LGBT people’s experiences in SA public sector health care, including access to HIV counselling, testing and treatment, to analyse to what extend LGBT people’s right to health is actioned. It also investigates strategies for LGBT people to seek resolution and create accountability when experiencing health rights violations. [from abstract]

Poor Availability of Skilled Birth Attendants in Nigeria: A Case Study of Enugu State Primary Health Care System

The Government of Enugu State plans to offer free perinatal services at the primary health care (PHC) centers in order to improve perinatal outcomes in the state, but it was not clear whether there are skilled birth attendants (SBAs) at the PHC level to implement the program. This study aims to determine whether there are sufficient numbers of SBAs in the public PHC system in Enugu State of Nigeria. [adapted from abstract]

Guide for Developing National Patient Safety Policy and Strategic Plan

A national patient safety policy is essential but it must reflect the context and needs of the individual country. To avoid reinventing the wheel, patient safety policy must reference internationally approved and tested guidelines and policy recommendations. Policy-makers require an accessible resource for the task of developing the national patient safety policy and patient safety strategic plan in order that they are comprehensive as well as precise and yet uncomplicated and flexible. [from introduction]

Conceptualizing the Impacts of Dual Practice on the Retention of Public Sector Specialists - Evidence from South Africa

‘Dual practice’, or multiple job holding, generally involves public sector-based health workers taking additional work in the private sector. There has been little conceptual or empirical development of the relationship between dual practice and retention. This article helps begin to fill this gap, drawing on empirical evidence from a qualitative
study focusing on South African specialists. [from abstract]

Comparison of Manual and Electronic Methods of Nursing Record: A Nurse's Perspective

Recording nursing reports is considered as a quality assurance tool for patients and nurses. Nowadays,the presence of electronic health record systems is an indicator of development. Studies on advantages and disadvantages of the electronic and manual recording methods have shown different results. In this study, electronic and manual recording of nursing reports were compared from the perspective of nurses. [from abstract]

The Impact of Student-Centered Pedagogy on Training in a Pediatrics Course

This study aimed to determine the attitudes of students towards learning method based on problem solving as a student-centered and their satisfaction from the student-centered learning method in the medical students of Mashhad University of Medical Science.

Improving Health Outcomes and Health Care in India

With India’s low life expectancy largely reflecting deaths from preventable diseases, the most significant gains in health would come from population-wide preventive measures. Access to public health care services varies substantially, resulting in many people turning to private-sector providers who mainly serve those who can pay. [from abstract]

Real-Time Assessments of the Strength of Program Implementation for Community Case Management of Childhood Illness: Validation of a Mobile Phone-Based Method in Malawi

Health surveillance assistants (HSAs) in Malawi have provided community case management (CCM) since 2008; however, program monitoring remains challenging. Mobile technology holds the potential to improve data, but rigorous assessments are few. This study tested the validity of collecting CCM implementation strength indicators through mobile phone interviews with HSAs. [from abstract]

An Interactive Mobile Messaging System for Patients and Health Workers

In this paper, the authors discuss a mobile interactive messaging system that would enable patients to send preliminary symptoms to the health workers in public hospitals via SMS. The information gathered is stored in database residing at the health facility, which will serve as a reference point to the health workers whenever responding to the messages received from patients. [from abstract]

Perceptions and Barriers to Contraceptive Use among Adolescents Aged 15 - 19 Years in Kenya: A Case Study of Nairobi

Even after the launch of family planning program in Kenya, in 1967, contraceptive use among adolescents has remained below 10 percent while child bearing has increased from 2 percent at age 15 to 36 percent at age 19. To understand the roles of perceptions and barriers on contraceptive use, a mixed method study design was applied to a conceptual framework that operationalized these concepts using data from different sources of social interactions in Nairobi, Kenya. [from abstract]

Traditional Birth Attendants and Women's Health Practices: A Case Study of Patani in Southern Nigeria

Despite the existence of modern health facilities in Nigeria, over 58 percent of deliveries take place at home. As outcomes of pregnancy and their sequelae are purely left to the providence of women in many rural communities, the place of delivery is a great determinant of maternal and child morbidity and mortality. [from abstract]

CPTED and Workplace Violence in Jordanian Public Hospitals

This study found that the hospitals attempted to make significant use of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) approach (including natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial concern, and management & maintenance) but that CPTED usage was at least partially ineffective because of poor implementation of its principles and because employees were not sufficiently educated in CPTED to exploit the CPTED engineering and design features. [from abstract]

Comparative Study on Health Care System Between Myanmar and China According to World Health Organization (WHO)’s Basic Health Blocks

This paper is a comparative analysis between China’s and Myanmar’s health systems, viewed through the WHO’s six building blocs of health systems: service delivery, health workforce, health information, access to essential medicines, health financing, leadership or governance.

Transforming Health Professions' Education through In-Country Collaboration: Examining the Consortia Between African Medical Schools Catalyzed by the Medical Education Partnership Initiative

African medical schools have historically turned to northern partners for technical assistance and resources to strengthen their education and research programmes. In 2010, this paradigm shifted when the United States Government brought forward unprecedented resources to support African medical schools. The grant, entitled the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) triggered a number of south-south collaborations between medical schools
in Africa. This paper examines the goals of these partnerships and their impact on medical education and health workforce planning. [from abstract]

An Overview of the Mental Health System in Gaza: an Assessment Using the World Health Organization's Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS)

Mental health system reform is urgently needed in Gaza to respond to increasing mental health consequences of conflict. Evidence from mental health systems research is needed to inform decision-making. We aimed to provide new knowledge on current mental health policy and legislation, and services and resource use, in Gaza to identify quality gaps and
areas for urgent intervention. [from abstract]

Emerging Themes for Sensitivity Training Modules of African Healthcare Workers Attending to Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Systematic Review

Sensitivity training of front-line African health care workers (HCWs) attending to men who have sex with men (MSM) is actively promoted through national HIV prevention programming in Kenya.

Geographic Variations in Health Care: What Do We Know and What Can Be Done to Improve Health System Performance?

This study documents geographic variations for high-cost and high-volume procedures in select OECD countries. It finds that there are wide variations not only across countries, but within them as well. [from abstract]

Wage-Setting in the Hospital Sector

This paper examines wage setting mechanisms for health workers in hospitals across eight different OECD countries. It describes similarities and differences and how fixed or fluid these approaches have been in recent years through health system reforms, labour market dynamics and economic pressures. [from abstract]

Evaluation du Programme d'appui à la Médicalisation des Aires de Santé Rurales au Mali

L’évaluation avait pour but d’apprécier la pertinence, l’efficacité et la viabilité de ce programme de médicalisation, notamment des stratégies développées pour attirer et maintenir les médecins dans les zones rurales. [from resource]

University Education for Nurses: A Response to the Challenges Facing Health Systems / La Formation Universitaire des Infirmières et Infirmiers: Une Réponse Aux Defis des Systèmes de Santé

This dissertation attempts to explain why nurses should have access to university education for 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles in nursing. Nursing expertise is indeed one of the conditions for an adequate response to the health challenges of the twenty-first century. [from introduction]

Ce mémoire tente d’expliquer pourquoi les infirmières et les infirmiers doivent avoir accès à la formation universitaire de 1er, 2e et 3e cycles en sciences infirmières. L’expertise infirmière est en effet l’une des conditions d’une réponse adéquate aux défis de santé du XXIe siècle.

Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians: Present and Future Roles

The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations’ mission-critical goals. [from abstract]

eLearning for Undergraduate Health Professional Education - A Systematic Review Informing a Radical Transformation of Health Workforce Development

The review is based on a rigorous search, analysis and presentation of data that provides decision-makers with an up-to-date picture of current knowledge on eLearning for undergraduate professional education. It responds to a need at the country level for evidence to inform and guide health professional education as an important vehicle in preparing health professionals to be ‘fit-for-purpose’. [from resource]