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This directive outlines the systematic organization of the fragmented continuing professional development (CPD) activities of health professionals in Ethiopia and describes the CPD requirements and roles for health workers and the government offices responsible for standardizing and accrediting CPD and health worker licensing. [adapted from author]

With the ultimate aim of improving the health status of Ethiopians through the delivery of quality health services by competent health professionals, this guideline helps to establish a CPD system in the country through outlining the process of accreditation of CPD courses and CPD providers and linking CPD with re-licensure. [from author]

This paper reports on a validation study of an assessment tool for junior doctors to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument and to explore the effect of length of experience as a first year post-graduate on assessment scores. [adapted from author]

Improving malaria case management is partially dependent on health worker compliance with clinical guidelines. This study assessed health worker factors associated with correct anti-malarial prescribing practices at two sites in rural Tanzania. [from abstract]

This study aimed to investigate the perceived impact of the nurse practitioner on the delivery of care in the emergency department by senior doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners. Results will facilitate adoption and best use of this human resource innovation. [from abstract]

This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health using case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each the authors reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. [from abstract]

Supervision plays a key role in performance and motivation, but is frequently characterized by periodic inspection and control, rather than support and feedback to improve performance. This paper explores the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and on the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to identify dimensions of organizational context and individual nurse characteristics that influence pediatric nurses’ self-reported use of research. [from abstract]

The objective of this study was to understand what factors influence pharmacists’ adoption of prescribing using a model for the diffusion of innovations in healthcare services in Alberta, the first Canadian jurisdiction to grant pharmacists a wide range of prescribing privileges. [adapted from abstract]

Health care professionals are expected to be aware of how to identify and manage the consequences of female genital mutilation in order to ensure that those affected by the practice receive quality health care, and their integration and legitimacy within the communities allow them to play a key role in the prevention of the practice. This study sought to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding female genital mutilation among health workers in rural settings in Gambia. [adapted from abstract]

This study examined the implementation of performance management of health care workers in order to propose strategies for improvement. [from abstract]

This study investigated the acceptance of home-based counselling and testing by lay counselors, its equity in uptake and the effect of negative life events with a cluster-randomized trial. [adapted from abstract]

This paper describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of an intervention in which lay counselors led collaborative stepped care for common mental disorders in public and private sector primary care settings, and the impact this intervention had on health and psychosocial outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

This study explores whether and how socio-cultural factors such as influence of gendered norms and extended family relationships impact lady health workers’ home-visit rates. [adapted from abstract]

This article reports a study which developed a 13-item professional attitudes and 11-item behaviors inventory in order to investigate medical professional attitudes and behaviors in China and explore the influencing factors. [adapted from abstract]

This study assesses the internal contracting, an approach where contractors work within the ministry of health but do not hire or fire health workers, as a means for improving the management of district health services and strengthening service delivery. [adapted from author]

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 report is an interim summary of ongoing supply chain strengthening interventions focused on community health workers in Mozambique. The piloting of these interventions aims to improve the performance of the supply chain that provides these community health workers with antimalarial drugs, rapid diagnostic tests, male condoms, and essential medicines for a variety of treatments. [from summary]

This study evaluates the impact of an intervention that improve the quality of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV at its health facilities, which included provider training, supportive supervision, detailed performance standards, repeated assessments of service quality, and task shifting of group education to lay workers. [adapted from abstract]

This study qualitatively assessed the process of implementing a tool developed to integrate data from health programs at the district level to enable district health management teams to review and monitor program progress for specific health issues to make informed service delivery decisions; and evaluated the tool’s effect on data-informed decision making at the district level. [adapted from abstract]

This report presents the results of a consultancy to facilitate agreement and document current flexibility of funding streams for HRH in Ethiopia, building on existing work and within national frameworks for priority actions on HRH to develop strategies and country level actions. [adapted from author]

Providing education and training to healthcare staff is an important strategy in implementing a tuberculosis infection prevention program. This manual and training curriculum provide information to begin improving infection prevention practices in health facilities and home based care. [adapted from publisher]

This guideline emphasises measures that reduce the risk of transmitting tuberculosis (TB) to managers, health care workers, patients, visitors and other persons in the health care facilities and households. It focuses on the safety of health care workers and reduction of patient-to-patient transmission. [adapted from author]

The study assessed provider adherence to tuberculosis (TB) guidelines on national, regional/district, and facility-based levels in Bangladesh. [adapted from author]

This study was undertaken as part of a multi-country study to determine providers’ adherence with evidence based tuberculosis (TB) standards and guidelines. This particular study assesses adherence with TB guidelines in Zambia at national, provincial/district and facility-based levels. [adapted from summary]

This study was undertaken to determine providers’ and patients’ adherence to national tuberculosis (TB) treatment guidelines. The key findings are expected to provide information regarding factors influencing provider adherence to guidelines, such as providers’ TB-related knowledge and attitudes, environmental factors and resources necessary to adhere to TB diagnosis and treatment standards. [adapted from author]

This exploratory study investigated general practitioners’ (GPs’) views and experiences of consulting with young people (aged 12–19 years) presenting with emotional distress in general practice. [from abstract]

The authors aimed to assess the extent of association or agreement between different spatially explicit nationwide general practitioner (GP) workforce data sets in Australia to identify any disagreements that would imply differential relationships with primary healthcare relevant outcomes with different data sets. The study also enumerates these associations across categories of rurality or remoteness. [adapted from abstract]

This study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of tuberculosis (TB) program personnel involved with tracing activities as part of a national pilot project in South Africa, the TB Tracer Project, which aims to decrease default rates and improve patient outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the protocol for a project designed to identify ways of strengthening district management in order to address health workforce inadequacies by improving health workforce performance in sub-Saharan Africa and reflect on the key challenges encountered during the development of this methodology and how they are being overcome. [adapted from abstract]