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This text presents the context and background, the methodology and some of the main results of the regional consultation on the critical challenges for human resources in health in the Americas. This consultation hopefully documents how the countries in the Americas are facing the main challenges to the development of the health workforce. The main results and suggestions by the actors consulted with regard to the role of international cooperation in the countries of the Region are presented, so that the countries and international agencies can better formulate common strategies of development and strengthening of the work force in health.

This presentation gives an outline of the current challenges and opportunities for HRH in the Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS crisis, some possible solutions, key messages and ways forward.

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This presentation focuses on the work MSH has done in Nicaragua, where leadership has been used as the key to address many of the challenges faced by the health sector, using a systems approach. [author’s description]

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Using a representative sample of 478 doctors, nurses, and lab technicians working with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), a cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the impact of the AIDS epidemic on medical care systems and service providers in China. The study findings suggest that improved institutional support for AIDS care at the facility level and HIV-related stigma reduction intervention are crucial to maintain a high quality performance by the workforce in the health care system. [from publisher’s description]

This report on the Consultation on AIDS and Human Resources for Health, WHO, Geneva, 11-12 May, 2006 outlines the Treat, Train Retain plan to address AIDS and HRH. The plan comprises three sets of elements: a package of HIV treatment, prevention, care and support services for health workers in countries affected by HIV (Treat); measures to empower health workers to deliver universal access to HIV/AIDS services (Train); and strategies to retain health workers in the public health system, including financial and other incentives and strategies to improve pay and working conditions and manage the migration of health care workers (Retain).

This article outlines the development and content of a community-based research capacity building framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers. The focus is on the major issues that enhance a proactive service delivery model using culturally appropriate research methods. The overall aim of the framework is to supplement current institutionally-based education and training resources for health workers with community-based research training modules. These modules can be tailored to provide research and evaluation skills relevant to health workers taking a more proactive role in facilitating health and wellbeing programs in their own communities.

Despite the expanding literature on how reforms may affect health workers and which reactions they may provoke, little research has been conducted on the mechanisms of effect through which health sector reforms either promote or discourage health worker performance. This paper seeks to trace these mechanisms and examines the contextual framework of reform objectives in Uganda and Bangladesh, and health workers responses to the changes in their working environments by taking a realistic evaluation approach. [abstract]

The risk of transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from patients to health-care workers is a neglected problem in many low- and middle-income countries. Most health-care facilities in these countries lack resources to prevent nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis. [author’s description]

Many women choose to use traditional birth attendants in Guatemala to deliver their babies - a fact that can’t be ignored, according to local public-health officials. They hope a new culturally sensitive approach to training traditional birth attendants will help improve their quality of care and save lives. [adapted from author]

This training curriculum is a guide to assist trainers in improving health care by training health professionals in: interpersonal communication in information, education, and counseling; referral and follow up processes; and infection prevention and control practices. Materials in this document are designed for training service providers who work at a variety of health facilities in Iraq. The curriculum can be used to train health professionals including physicians, nurses, midwives and other health workers in group training or, with adaptation, as a basis for individualized or self-directed learning. [author’s description]

Ensuring high performance of health care delivery systems is a challenge facing all governments. Dealing with the incentive problems underlying public health care delivery to improve productivity, quality, and performance is a common theme of health sector reforms in many countries. However, the impact of these reforms is often hard to establish. This book presents a series of case studies of health systems innovations by the Central American republics in the 1990s. The cases have a common theme of efforts to improve specific aspects of health system performance through the introduction of innovative and alternative financial, organizational, or delivery models…The case studies in this book report on the results of these experiences, encompassing a range of issues from the expansion of primary care to the use of public-private partnerships and the establishment of a social security-financed delivery system.

In 1999, Cambodia contracted out management of government health services to NGOs in five districts that had been randomly made eligible for contracting. The contracts specified targets for maternal and child health service improvement. The program increased the availability of 24-hour service, reduced provider absence, and increased supervisory visits. There is some evidence it improved health. The program involved increased public health funding, but led to roughly offsetting reductions in private expenditure as residents in treated districts switched from unlicensed drug sellers and traditional healers to government clinics.

A seven-point framework was used to analyze retention strategies in four countries: Uganda, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Thailand. This framework draws upon available country data and includes GDP and investment in health, mix of private/public investment, international migration, health policy frameworks, countrywide strategies, provincial/regional strategies, and professional associations/regulatory bodies. Comparison of the countries demonstrated that progress has been made in nurse retention. [from executive summary]

This report marks the culmination of the Nursing Sector Study. The five year study consisted of two phases, and examined the nursing workforce for all three regulated nursing professions in Canada. Phase I, which concluded in December 2004, examined the state of nursing human resources in Canada. The objective of Phase II was to develop a pan-Canadian nursing human resource (HR) strategy in consultation with government and non-government stakeholders that built on the findings and recommendations presented at the completion of Phase I. [from executive summary]

This commentary examines the significance of international links as a major contributor to growth of the nursing workforce in the UK, and also highlights more recent indicators of a rapid decline in international nurses registering in the UK. [from introduction]

The migration of health professionals trained in Africa to developed nations has compromised health systems in the African region. The financial losses from the investment in training due to the migration from the developing nations are hardly known. Developing countries are losing significant amounts of money through lost investment of health care professionals who emigrate. There is need to quantify the amount of remittances that developing nations get in return from those who migrate. [from abstract]

Rewards are important in attracting, motivating and retaining the most qualified employees, and nurses are no exception to this rule. This makes the establishment of an efficient reward system for nurses a true challenge for every hospital manager. A reward does not necessarily have a financial connotation: non-financial rewards may matter too, or may even be more important. Therefore, the present study examines nurses’ reward perceptions, in order to identify potential reward options. [abstract]

The NSW Department of Health is responsible for managing nurse supply. It needs to identify the extent and nature of shortages and develop ways to attract, retain and best manage nurses working in public hospitals. This audit looks at how nurses are managed in four of our public hospitals and examines how the Department has responded to expected nurse shortages. It also highlights actions that have helped reduce the number of nurses leaving hospitals. [from foreword]

This best practice guideline aims to identify and describe: leadership practices that result in healthy outcomes for nurses, patients/clients, organizations and systems; system resources that support effective leadership practices; organizational culture, values and resources that support effective leadership practices; personal resources that support effective leadership practices; and anticipated outcomes of effective nursing leadership. [author’s description]

Strengthening access to a range of HIV-related services for those in need and promoting communication among service providers requires a formalized referral network of providers. However, little information about how to create these networks and few standardized tools to facilitate effective network functioning are available. This document aims to describe several models of referral networks and to provide tools and instructions that can be adapted to different settings.

This Royal College of Nursing (RCN) publication is designed to assist you in your role as a mentor to pre-registration nursing and midwifery students. It outlines your responsibilities alongside those of the student, higher education institutions (HEIs) and placement providers. [introduction]

This guidance sets out some of the key issues faced by IRNs, and suggests good practice for managers in overcoming these problems to create a new workforce whose wellbeing and professional status is at the forefront of recruitement policies. [from introduction]

This paper assesses the reasons for recent growth in recruitment of registered nurses from other countries to the United Kingdom (UK). It aims to examine trends in inward recruitment of nurses to the UK, assess the impact of free mobility of registered nurses in the European Union from a UK perspective, examine the impact of the introduction of ethical guidelines on international recruitment of nurses to the UK, and explore the reasons why registered nurses are internationally mobile. [from introduction]

This working paper evaluates th success of the Quality of Care Management Center in Nepal and highlights the fact that even in resource-poor settings, quality of care in health service delivery can be achieved. This model for a quality of care center that provides timely, appropriate, and ongoing support to clinical facilities may be especially useful in countries where centralized systems are in place for allocation of resources or where maintenance and supply capacity is limited to central locations.

This report calls for provincial governments to take a closer look at the way they hire doctors, nurses and other health professionals from developing countries. Canada has always relied on newcomers to help deal with shortages in this field, but increasingly these professionals are coming from developing countries, especially from Africa and Asia, which have staffing shortages and critical health problems of their own.

This report is intended to generate discussion and direct future initiatives aimed at improving the current nationwide shortage of nurses. It is a review, analysis, and discussion of six major research documents on Canadian nursing human resource issues produced during the last five years. The questions this report sets out to answer are: What are the fundamental issues behind nursing human resource challenges? What solutions and strategies have been put forward to address them? What areas are being addressed? What areas have not been addressed and why? [from executive summary]

These yearly summary reports provide information on nurse wages and the comparitive buying power of these wages in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The data are results from a survey of 11 National Nurses’ Associations. [from introduction]

For employment contracts not covered by collective agreements, individual nurses must be able to negotiate salaries and conditions of employment commensurate with their position and job functions. The purpose of these guidelines is to assist nurses in applying for senior positions and includes a review of the position, the application processes in its broader context and a clarification of both individual and collective employment contracts and how these relate to senior positions. [from preface]

This article describes a survey of health workers and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) which was carried out in 2005 in two regions of Ghana. The objective of the survey was to ascertain the impact of the introduction of a delivery fee exemption scheme on both health workers and those providers who were excluded from the scheme (TBAs).

Many health care organisations recognise the importance of taking a proactive approach to dealing with workplace harassment and bullying. Its effects are harmful to all concerned – the people directly involved in a complaint, team members and the whole organisation…This document provides guidance for managers and RCN negotiators on good practice in dealing with workplace bullying and harassment. [from introduction]