Western Europe

This publication assesses the results from a wide-ranging series of systematic reviews of the evidence on human resource management (HRM) and performance. It assesses evidence on use of HRM in the UK and fidelity of practice implemented and considers evidence for the impact of HRM practices on intermediate outcomes, which can impact on final outcomes, such as organisational performance or patient care. [adapted from abstract]

This paper presents data on the views of midwives from one maternity unit in England following the introduction of an organisation wide quality improvement initiative to improve in-patient postnatal care and processes to transfer women home. As quality improvement initiatives are highly influenced by the context into which they are introduced and by the processes of implementation, our findings may support others to address how clinician engagement could be enhanced. [adapted from author]

This volume presents an analysis of health professional mobility in Europe from a health system perspective. The central policy issue of this analysis is that health professional mobility impacts on the performance of health systems and that these impacts are increasing in line with increasing mobility in Europe. [from introduction]

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of internal marketing, all the actions that an organization (i.e., health care organizations, hospitals) has to perform in order to develop, train and motivate its employees to enhance the quality of the services provided to its customers, on job satisfaction in health services - particularly in public hospitals in Northern Greece. [adapted from author]

This study aims to increase our understanding of health care providers’ attitude towards a national electronic patient record, by investigating their perceptions of the benefits and problems of electronic information exchange in health care. The results of this study provide valuable suggestions about how to promote health care providers’ willingness to adopt electronic information exchange. [adapted from abstract]

This research evaluates the potential effect of job motivation, learning and self-assessment through performance appraisals for health personnel. [from introduction]

The authors conducted this study to survey all medical schools in Germany regarding the prevalence of mentoring programs for medical students as well as the characteristics, goals and effectiveness of these programs. [from abstract]

This paper presents a short preliminary report of how the Italian National Institute of Health has, since 2003, applied problem-based learning in a new approach called One Day-One Problem Problem-based Learning in short courses for the staff of the Italian National Health Service. [from abstract]

In order to gain a general picture of the intercultural challenges faced by Geneva physicians and inform the development of targeted training activities, we conducted a large-scale survey of physicians’ and medical students’ knowledge, attitudes and skills related to care of immigrant patients. This paper reports on respondents’ self-assessments of their clinical and intercultural skills. [from author]

Recruiting, retaining and meeting increasing demand for experienced, qualified nurses is an issue of concern for all health care systems. This paper considers the factors that sustain or curtail workforce innovations through the case example of a cohort of nurse consultants established in one community health service in England.

This study empirically validated a model for integrated care in practice by assessing the relevance, implementation and plans of the elements in three integrated care service settings in The Netherlands. [from abstract]

The aim of this review was to gain insight into the scientific and professional literature describing the extent to and the ways in which nurse prescribing has been realised or is being introduced in Western European and Anglo-Saxon countries; and to identify possible mechanisms underlying the introduction and organisation of nurse prescribing. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to identify factors inhibiting the implementation and integration of telecare systems for chronic disease management in the community. [from abstract]

In the United Kingdom, non-medical prescribing (NMP) has been identified as one way to improve healthcare quality and efficiency. Healthcare organisations are charged with overseeing the clinical governance of NMP and guidance recommends the identification of a lead director to be responsible for its implementation. The aim of this research was to explore the role of the organisational NMP lead across a range of practice settings and consider the development of NMP from a multi-organisational perspective. [from abstract]

This paper examines associations between psychosocial job stress and perceived health care quality among German clinicians in surgery. [from abstract]

Pay for Performance (P4P) programs, based on provision of financial incentives for service quality, have been widely adopted to enhance quality of care and to promote a more efficient use of health care resources whilst improving patient outcomes. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether it is possible to implement P4P programs in the Lombardy Region, in Italy, based on the existing data set. [from abstract]

The aim of this study is to describe primary health care manager’ attitudes and views on recruitment and human resource development in general and to ascertain whether there are any differences in the views of managers in the southern and northern regions of Finland. [from abstract]

This work is a comparative analysis of the reasons for the adoption of institutional public-private partnerships and the governance and managerial features necessary to establish them as appropriate arrangements for public health services provisions. [from abstract]

This article examines the different methods used in National Health Service (NHS) workforce planning and development. It is designed to help nurse managers select and apply methods for evaluating or estimating their staffing needs and looks at the future for workforce planning and development. [from abstract]

Although the proportion of women in medicine is growing, female physicians continue to be disadvantaged in professional activities. The purpose of the study was to determine and compare the professional activities of female and male primary care physicians in Andalusia and to assess the effect of the health center on the performance of these activities. [from abstract]

This report considers the degree to which National Health Service workforce planning in England is likely to support the delivery of a workforce that is fit for the future. To inform this assessment, the authors examine current developments at national and regional level, highlight relevant international experience, and propose ways in which planning could be made more effective. [from summary]

This report compares the foreign and domestic policies regarding health workers in five European Union countries, which have some of the highest densities of doctors and nurses in the world. It looks at the reasons for health shortages in both source and destination countries, exploring what needs to change or to be put into practice in order to fulfil the requirements of the WHO Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel and to strengthen health systems in the developing world. [from summary]

This paper has two objectives: to identify the key challenges in HRH planning in Belgium and to formulate recommendations for an effective HRH planning, on the basis of the Belgian case study and lessons drawn from an international benchmarking. [from abstract]

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have become a very popular tool for decision making in healthcare. While there is some evidence that CPGs improve outcomes, there are numerous factors that influence their acceptability and use by healthcare providers. This study evaluates these issues in a representative sample of clinicians in Spain. [from abstract]

Spain has gone from a surplus to a shortage of medical doctors in very few years. Medium and long-term planning for health professionals has become a high priority for health authorities. This study used a supply and demand-need simulation model for 43 medical specialties using system dynamics to colculate the supply and the deficit or surplus. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to assess the importance medical students place on learning about selected social determinants of health, explore their knowledge of selected global health topics and analyse any associations with medical students’ mobility patterns and education in tropical medicine or global health. [from abstract]

This study focused on the manager role in the manager-physician relationship, considered from the manager perspective. The aim was to understand how top executives in Swedish healthcare regard management of physicians in their organisations, and what this implies for the manager role in relation to the medical profession.

The Commission developed a value-based vision of the future that sees nurses and midwives in the mainstream of service planning, development and delivery, backed up by the necessary education, continuing professional development and supervision, and by supportive management and workplace cultures. This report endorses important existing effots, and where necessary proposes to accelerate the pace of change. It adds new thinking about how best nursing and midwifery can support service users, families and local communities. [from author]

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of burnout in Greek medical residents, investigate its relationship with training satisfaction during residency and survey Greek medical residents’ opinion towards the European Work Time Directive. [from abstract]

Recruitment and retention of qualified health professionals, especially physicians, is a major challenge in health service delivery in the high north, similar to other remote areas of the world. This article describes a strategy to address this problem and evaluates the effect of the strategy for Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway. [from abstract]