Monitoring & Evaluation

Training health workers to use integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) guidelines can improve care for ill children in outpatient settings in developing countries. This article aimed to determine if the performance of IMCI-trained health workers deteriorated over 3 years. [from abstract]

This study aimed to assess health workers’ compliance with the procedures set in the focused antenatal care guidelines in rural Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso; to compare the compliance within and among the three study sites; and to appraise the logistic and supply of the respective health facilities. [from abstract]

This article reports on a comprehensive assessment of the quality of training at a large postgraduate psychiatry training institute using non-anonymised face-to-face interviews with trainees and their trainers, which successfully elicited strengths and weakness of the program and may well provide important information to allow for targeted improvement of health training in general. [adapted from abstract]

Death certificates can provide valuable health status data regarding disease incidence, prevalence and mortality in a community to guide local health policy and help in setting priorities. This study evaluated the accuracy of death certificates at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a Karachi, Pakistan. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study is to compare measures of cost and quality of care (in-hospital mortality, 30-day same-facility readmission, and length of stay) of hospitalists vs. traditional physician providers in a large Canadian community hospital setting. [from abstract]

The aim of this research is to carry out a systematic literature review of the studies devoted to the performance assessment of primary health care providers. Focusing on the peculiarities of performance evaluation in the public sector, it analyses the selected empirical papers in terms of the efficacy of the developed measurement schemes. [adpated from author]

This article describes a modified Delphi method used to identify a set of indicators for continuously monitoring the quality of maternity care by healthcare professionals. [from abstract]

This study was undertaken to determine providers’ adherence with evidence based TB standards and guidelines in Zambia at national, provincial/district and facility-based levels. [adapted from summary]

This article has been written as a guide for program managers who want to recognize and support high quality cost-effetiveness analysis (CEA) of training. It focuses on the approaches and challenges associated with conducting CEA of training in the context of program implementation or rapid expansion of programs. [from author]

This is the World Health Organization’s annual compilation of health-related data for its 194 member states, and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and associated targets. This year, it also includes highlight summaries on the topics of reducing the gaps between the world’s most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries, and on current trends in official development assistance for health. It also includes the 2013 Indicator Compendium. [from publisher]

PCT aims to improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment by giving patients the choice of having drug intake supervised at the health facility by a medical professional or at home by a supporter of their choice. This study assessed whether key elements of the PCT approach were being implemented, evaluated supporters’ knowledge, captured opinions on factors contributing to treatment completion, and assessed how treatment completion was measured. [from abstract]

The objectives of this study were to: develop a theoretically based framework to conceptualize nursing care performance; analyze how the different components of the framework have been operationalized in the literature; and develop a pool of indicators sensitive to various aspects of nursing care that can be used as a basis for designing a performance measurement system. [from abstract]

This study explored the nurses’ and physicians’ acceptance and experiences with a pre-induction checklist implemented in an anaesthetic department. [adapted from author]

The study was carried out to determine the knowledge, perception, and practice of malaria monitoring and evaluation among selected health staff, and to identify related socio-demographic factors, including cadre of staff. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to assess the clinical competency of medical graduates, as perceived by the graduates themselves and by the experts. [from abstract]

This study aimed to develop a self-report measure of behavioral health provider adherence for co-located, collaborative care, a commonly adopted model of behavioral health service delivery in primary care. [from abstract]

This study used covert observers to determine health worker adherence to hand hygiene compliance for hospital infection control.

The authors discuss the overlooked but significant role of universities in collecting, managing, and using human resources data in Tanzania and in other countries struggling to build their health workforce. They present options for Tanzania which are of relevance to other countries developing information systems for human resources for health. [from publisher]

This report details the results and impact of a human resources for health quality improvement intervention in Niger. The approach focused on teaching evidence-based human resources interventions that will improve health outcomes. [adapted from author]

This review looked for evidence for the most effective approach to deliver malaria treatment in developing countries, by public sector, formal and informal private sector, and community health workers. The authors analysed 31 studies to assess providers based on six criteria: knowledge and practice of provider, diagnosis, referral practices, price of medicine, availability of ACT, and treatment coverage and impact on morbidity and mortality. [from abstract]

This study investigated the knowledge and performance of health extension workers (HEWs) on antenatal and delivery care. The study also explored the barriers and facilitators for HEWs in the provision of maternal health care. [from abstract]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of health workers after decentralisation of the health services in Uganda in order to identify and suggest possible areas for improvement. [from abstract]

The simulated client (SC) method for evaluating health worker performance utilizes surveyors who pose as patients to make surreptitious observations during consultations. During a trial that evaluated a quality improvement intervention in Benin, the authors conducted an SC survey with adult caretakers as surveyors and real children to evaluate the feasibility of this approach for evaluating health worker performance for pediatric illnesses. [adapted from abstract]

This report provides insight into health workforce performance in Nepal, looking at the four dimensions of health workforce performance: availability, competency, responsiveness and productivity. It informs policy-makers and managers on interventions to improve health workforce performance in Nepal. [from summary]

This article addresses health workers’ experiences with the open performance review and appraisal system (OPRAS) in Tanzania, expectations towards pay for performance, and how lessons learned from OPRAS can assist in the implementation of pay for performance. The broader aim is to generate knowledge on health workers’ motivation in low-income contexts. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigated the reasons for the poor performance of the district health executives reported by provincial health managers in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe. [adapted from abstract]

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among private sector doctors who manage HIV and AIDS patients in KwaZulu-Natal to collect data on private sector doctors’ HIV testing practices.

The authors wished to establish the use of existing diabetes management guidelines by general practitioners in Tshwane, South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to survey the literature on community monitoring projects that have attempted to improve health sector governance by promoting greater community involvement in monitoring and oversight of health service providers, to describe common features and shared challenges that these projects face, to identify existing gaps in knowledge and practice, and serve as an input to a broader discussion of the prospects for incorporation of community-based accountability mechanisms in performance-based incentive programs. [adapted from introduction]

This study aimed at assessing the current situation of the health system of rural health care and evaluating the clinical competency of village doctors in management of childhood illnesses prior to implementing IMCI program in remote border rural areas. [from abstract]