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The global shortage of nurses, creating opportunities for South African nurses to work in foreign countries, as well as a variety of factors related to nursing, health care and the general living conditions in South Africa influence nurses’ decisions to emigrate. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the factors that influence nurses’ decisions to emigrate. [from abstract]

This qualitative study was undertaken to explore and describe the experiences of professional nurses in their relationships with nurse managers. [from abstract]

This cross-sectional study assessed knowledge and utilization of the partograph, an effective tool for monitoring labour that can prevent prolonged or obstructed labour, among health care workers in southwestern Nigeria. [adapted from author]

The People’s Open Access Educational Initiative (Peoples-uni) aims to contribute towards public health capacity building in Developing Countries, through the provision of on-line education for public health practitioners. This document reports on a pilot module on the subject of maternal mortality was delivered at the end of 2007. [adapted from abstract]

The development of educational context around free and open-source materials available on the Internet has the ability to help build public health capacity in low- to middle-income countries. In a partnership across the global and digital divides, the People’s Open Access Education Initiative has been established to identigy open-access materials linked to the competences required to tackle public health problems, teach through online facilitation by volunteers in conjunction with members of local universities, and accredit learned competences. [adpated from abstract]

Continuing education is necessary for all health care providers to remain up-to-date with the rapid technological advances and accumulation of new knowledge resulting from constant research. This booklet is intended to provide guidelines for planning, accrediting and implementing continuing professional development in Uganda. [adapted from foreword]

In response to the critical HRH shortages in Africa, DFID and Office of the US Global Aids Coordinator (OGAC) have been in discussion with a number of African countries to develop strategies and country level actions. The aim is to demonstrate the maximum flexibility of disease specific programmes to support broad based primary care in line with countries’ health plans.

This curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of quality health care services in presenting an approach to supervision that emphasizes mentoring, joint problem solving, and two-way communication. It is meant to be used by trainers who introduce the facilitative approach to supervision to supervisors from different levels of the health system: on-site and off-site supervisors, including medical and nonmedical supervisors. [from publisher]

The global burden of disease falls disproportionately upon the world’s low-income countries, which are often struggling with weak health systems. Both the public and private sector deliver health care in these countries, but the appropriate role for each of these sectors in health system strengthening remains controversial. This debate examines whether the private sector should step up its involvement in the health systems of low-income countries. [from author]

The purpose of this primer is to document and promote best practices gleaned from worldwide experience in training private sector providers. [from introduction]

We reviewed published literature that outlines the principles of quality assurance in higher education from various institutions worldwide. Using this information, we designed a handbook that outlines the quality assurance principles in a simple and practical way. This was intended to enable institutions, even in developing countries, to adapt these principles in accordance with their local resource capacity. We subsequently pilot-tested this handbook at one of the sites in Ghana. [from abstract]

To help build the health workforce in Uganda, the Capacity Project is assisting the Ministry of Health to strengthen its human resources management and ability to gather and use accurate data for strategic planning. Drawing on key policy questions developed by the Health Workforce Advisory Board, the Capacity Project installed a certification and licensing information system at the four health professional councils and a human resources management system at the Ministry of Health.

This technical brief describes in some detail the human resources managment (HRM) problems that contribute to the health worker crisis, as these have often been underplayed, or not addressed at all. The brief also identifies specific strategic actions that ought to be taken to address these HRM challenges, and concludes with some examples of broad futuristic thinking and innovations to stimulate donor and programmatic funding opportunities for strengthening HRH. [from author]

Several high-profile meetings have focused global attention on critical human resources for health (HRH) issues, providing much needed high-level support and calls for action to address the HRH crisis. The Capacity Project’s HRH Action Workshop series was intended to extend this work by focusing on specific HRH actions and experiences, what is being done in countries, what is working and what is not.

While the recruitement of rural doctors is steadily rising, there is concern about their long-term retention. In response, an orientation course for recently established rural doctors was set up in 2003, based on a training needs assessment. This paper draws lessons from this experience, focusing on processes and mechanisms operating in the relation between training and retention in rural practice. [adapted from author]

This article reports on an initiative in a rural New Zealand community to meet the need for after hours care. First contact for patients is with a community nursing team operating from the local health centre, complemented by on-call advice from GPs and GP clinics twice daily at weekends. The article reports on the demand for after hours services generated by a geographically defined community in New Zealand. [from introduction]

After a curriculum review, Makerere University’s longstanding traditional curriculum was converted to a problem based learning curriculum with a focus on Community Based Education and Service (COBES). As a component of COBES, radiography, medical, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy students are sent to community health facilities where they are expected to participate in community services and other primary healthcare activities.

The HIV pandemic does not spare health workers. In many countries, HIV prevalence among health care providers is equal to or higher than national averages, and in some areas, morbidity and mortality account for over 60% of health worker vacancies, compared to the 23% accounted for by the more commonly acknowledged impact of out-migration. The resulting attrition of health workers has a severe impact on the health resource capacity of developing nations and leaves critical efforts such as the rollout of antiretroviral therapy largely insurmountable. [from introduction]

There is increasing consensus that training programmes should focus on know-how instead of know-all. IntraHealth International’s Learning for performance: a guide and toolkit for health worker training and education programs offers a step-by-step, customizable approach designed to develop the right skills linked to job responsibilities. Using Learning for Performance yields more efficient training that focuses on what is essential for health workers to do their jobs and on effective learning methods.

Many countries are introducing, expanding, or undertaking major reform of pharmacy education. Such developments must be accompanied by robust systems to assure the quality of the educational structures, processes and outcomes; the latter primarily being graduates who are competent and capable of performing safely and effectively in their practice setting and contributing to the delivery of healthcare. [from author]

An updated and expanded version of the FIP Global Framework for Quality Assurance of Pharmacy Education Version 1 was published in 2015.

The theme of this edition is primary health care in South Africa. It includes national and international perpescitves on primary health care and focuses on areas such as policy and legislation, infectious diseases, maternal and child health and human resources. Chapter 11 discusses strengthening human resources for primary care. [adapted from summary]

This background report for the World Health Report 2006 details the costs of eliminating critical HRH shortages based on data from the 2006 World Health Organization World Health Report. This was used to determine the minimum number of health workers required to supply sufficient health care to the populations of developing countries, as well as calculating the necessary costs of bridging the gap between current health worker availability and the projected requirements for 2015. [adapted from introduction]

This presentation on the emergency HR program in Malawi was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This introductory presentation on maintaining economically sustainable staffing levels was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This presentation on health worker retention in rural area was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This presentation on the domestic training and international recruitment of health workers was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This document discusses the in-country ownership of health initiatives from the Health Sector Strategic Plan focusing on critical areas such as retention, recruitment and occupational safety.

This introductory presentation on migration and other health workforce issues in a global economy was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This review surveys trends in physician supply in the United States from 1980 to the present. It discusses the composition of the physician workforce; changes in the inflows and outflows of the physician workforce; and how international migration, retirement, part-time practice and alternative employment have impacted the physician workforce. Finally, the paper considers implications of physician shortages and the recruitment of physicians from abroad. [adapted from summary]

The United States has the largest professional nurse workforce in the world but does not produce enough nurses to meet its growing demand. The U.S. is now the world’s major importer of nurses, but the shortage is too large to be solved by recruitment abroad without depleting world nursing resources. The national shortage could be largely addressed by investments in expanding nursing school capacity. [adapted from summary]