United States

This report describes a US National Institute of Health (NIH) funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) to enhance expertise in neurology, developed between Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda, and Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH, USA. [from abstract]

Globally, health-care workers experience high rates of violence and abuse in the workplace. More focus should be put on preventing such attacks, say experts. [from introduction]

The purpose of the paper is provide a brief review of the evolution of nursing education in the United States and globally, describe the current and projected state of nursing education, and discuss some pressing challenges educators face as they strive to meet the charge to prepare nurses to care for more complex patients situated in ever-changing health-care systems. [from abstract]

The study was conducted to better understand the roles and functions of the health workforce responsible for managing patient transitions to and from hospitals and nursing homes in New York’s downstate region to reduce the number of readmissions and to improve care transitions. [adapted from introduction]

Children from traditionally underserved and marginalized communities have more health problems and less accessible, effective health care delivery than children generally. When children from underserved communities also have special health care needs, the problems they face are further compounded. The engagement of community health workers (CHWs) has emerged as a very promising strategy for addressing the persistent disparities in the delivery of health care and related service to Children with Special Health Care Needs. [from introduction]

The active recruitment of health workers from developing countries to developed countries has become a major threat to global health. In an effort to manage this migration, the 63rd World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in May 2010. While the Code has been lauded as the first globally-applicable regulatory framework for health worker recruitment, its impact has yet to be evaluated.

The project had four objectives: to create a “charter for collaboration” (CFC), to improve data-driven policy making, to enhance health care provider education, and to increase research capacity. [from abstract]

The purpose of this study was to compare rural and urban nursing students in relation to application, admission, and retention/graduation trends at a metropolitan state university in the Pacific Northwest area of the USA. [from abstract]

This article reports on a workforce information system designed to assemble the latest available data on oncologist supply and cancer incidence and prevalence, which was developed in anticipation of projected oncologist workforce shortages. [adapted from abstract]

The goal of this study was to assess whether house calls by community health workers and public health nurses affected isoniazid adherence for latent tuberculosis infection or frequency of adverse effects. [adapted from author]

The purpose of this study was to clarify the impact of long nurse working hours on patient safety culture in Japan, the US, and Chinese Taiwan using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture assessment tool. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to determine current emigration trends of sub-Saharan African physicians found in the physician workforce of the United States. [from abstract]

This study assessed the impact of a behavioral telehealth ethical competencies training program on behavioral health providers’ development of behavioral telehealth competency. Video vignettes evaluating the 14 competencies, self-reported competence surveys and follow-up surveys of progress on telehealth goals were utilized to assess effects of the training. [adapted from abstract]

The current article describes research to determine the physician supply and demand across the State of Hawai’i. [from abstract]

The enormous fiscal pressures facing trauma centers may lead trauma centers to reduce nurse staffing and to make increased use of less expensive and less skilled personnel. The goal of this study was to examine whether nurse staffing levels and nursing skill mix are associated with trauma patient outcomes. [from abstract]

Given concerns regarding the effects of this loss to their countries of origin, the authors undertook a study of international medical graduates from lower income countries currently practicing in the United States. [from abstract]

The purpose of this study was to assess students’ experiences and attitudes toward legislative advocacy using a convenience sample of premedical and medical students attending a National Advocacy Day in Washington, DC. [from abstract]

This article describes the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Health Policy Research Institute’s (HPRI) role in collecting, analyzing and disseminating information about the surgical workforc in the United States, as suggests it as a possible model to assist in government surgical workforce planning. [adapted from author]

This brief shows that lay health workers can successfully engage significant numbers of consumers in increasing knowledge and reducing barriers to health care quality. It also discusses the fundamental issues of monitoring performance, obtaining recognition and developing an effective training model. [adapted from author]

This presentation discusses the United States’ implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, the challenges and next steps. [adapted from author]

Based on the goals of health care reform, growth in the demand for health care will continue to increase the demand for physicians and, as physician shortages widen, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants will play larger roles. The objective of this study was to assess the capacity of this combined workforce to meet the future demand for clinical services. [from author]

For more than 25 years, family medicine residencies have worked with community health centers (CHCs) to train family physicians. This study compares CHC and non-CHC-trained family physicians regarding practice location, job and training satisfaction, and recruitment and retention to underserved areas. [from author]

Physicians leaving and reentering clinical practice can have significant medical workforce implications. This study surveyed inactive physicians younger than typical retirement age to determine their reasons for clinical inactivity and what barriers, real or perceived, there were to reentry into the medical workforce. [from abstract]

The authors postulate that learning among clinic group members is a particularly important attribute of a primary care clinic that has not yet been well-studied in the health care literature, but may be related to the ability of primary care practices to improve the care they deliver. This article aimes to better understand learning in primary care settings by developing a scale of learning in primary care clinics based on the literature related to learning across disciplines, and to examine the association between scale responses and chronic care model implementation. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to assess the influence of loan repayment and other factors on the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in rural Colorado, USA, and to compare the motivations and attitudes of these rural providers with their urban counterparts. [from introduction]

This article describes a program directed at the re-supply of rural physicians in rural areas and its success in addressing the critical shortages caused by maldistribution of health care workers. [adapated from abstract]

The objective of this document was to conduct a systematic review of the evidence on characteristics of community health workers (CHWs) and CHW interventions, outcomes of such interventions, costs and cost-effectiveness of CHW interventions, and characteristics of CHW training. [from abstract]

The physician assistant (PA) profession is a nationally recognized medical profession in the United States of America. The authors examined the 1980-2007 US census data to determine the demographic distribution of the PA workforce and PA-to-population relationships. Maps were developed to provide graphical display of the data. [adapted from abstract]

This study examines US osteopathic residents’ and medical students’ attitudes and willingness to practice in rural medicine. The multiple aims of this study were to determine: if there are any significant differences in interest in rural medicine among various levels of training; the relative age, gender, and race of those who are intending to pursue a career in rural health; and whether a number of demographic characteristics or participation in a rural elective significantly impacted interest in practicing in a rural area. [adapted from abstract]

The proportion of international medical graduates (IMGs) serving as primary care physicians in rural underserved areas (RUAs) has important policy implications. We analyzed the 2000 American Medical Association Masterfile and Area Resource File to calculate the percentage of primary care IMGs, relative to U.S. medical graduates, working in RUAs. [from abstract]