Journal Articles

This article explored the lessons learned by health workers involved in the provision of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in eastern Uganda to better understand what more needs to be done to strengthen the program. [adapted from abstract]

This paper presents the results of a recent research priority-setting exercise that identified regional policy concerns and research priorities related to health financing, human resources and the non-state sector, based on stakeholders in nine low and middle income countries in the region. The countries included were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. [adapated from abstract]

The impact of HIV-specific funds and programmes on non-HIV-related health services and health systems in genera has been debated extensively. Drawing on evidence from Malawi and Ethiopia, this article analyses the effects of ART scale-up interventions on human resources policies, service delivery and general health outcomes, and explores how synergies can be maximized. [from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive, engaging, and visible framework of HRH system development. This has been further developed from the lessons distilled from Japanese experiences of supporting HRH system development in three fragile and post-conflict health systems: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cambodia. [from author]

This paper describes the evaluation of a tailored HIV curriculum for village AIDS committees (VACs) within a rural area to determine if the curriculum increased levels of HIV knowledge among the VAC members through conducting baseline and post-training surveys. [adapted from author]

This paper uses ethnographic methods to document health workers’ antenatal care practices with reference to the national Focused Antenatal Care guidelines and identifies factors influencing health workers’ performance. Potential implications for improving antenatal care provision in Tanzania are discussed. [from abstract]

Based on the goals of health care reform, growth in the demand for health care will continue to increase the demand for physicians and, as physician shortages widen, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants will play larger roles. The objective of this study was to assess the capacity of this combined workforce to meet the future demand for clinical services. [from author]

Clinical activities that trainees can be trusted to perform with minimal or no supervision have been labelled as Entrustable Professional Activities. The authors sought to examine what activities could be entrusted to psychiatry trainees in their first year of specialist training. [from abstract]

This article aimed to quantify how nurses distribute their time across tasks, with patients, in individual tasks, and engagement with other health care providers; and how work patterns changed over a two year period.

This study aims to clarify the level of job satisfaction of Chinese community health workers between a metropolitan and a small city in Liaoning province and explore its associated factors. [from abstract]

The authors argue that the influence of governance is undervalued in addressing the HRH crisis, both globally and at country level; and they review a thematic series which aimed to expand the evidence base on the role of governance in addressing the HRH crisis. [adapted from abstract]

This review attempts to answer questions that remain on the contribution prescribing by nurses and professionals allied to medicine makes to the care of patients in primary care and define the evidence on which clinicians, commissioners of services and policy makers can consider this innovation. [adapted from abstract]

India is facing shortage of qualified mental health manpower. Recognizing this key constraint, the government of India has formulated a manpower development scheme to address the issue. This article outlines the scheme’s primary initatives: centers of excellence in mental health, departments in mental health specialties, upgrading of psychiatric wings of medical colleges, and modernization of state-run mental hospitals. [adapted from abstract]

Comparisons of patient experiences between providers are increasingly used as an index of provider performance. This study describes the ability of patient experience surveys to discriminate between healthcare providers for various patient groups and quality aspects, and reports the sample sizes required for reliable comparisons of provider scores. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to assess whether community case management by lady health workers with oral amoxicillin in children with severe pneumonia was equivalent to current standard of care. [from summary]

This artcle argues that: emerging training programs in global health worldwide create a unique opportunity to re-examine the strategy to scale-up human resources to reduce the global burden of disease; funding should be channeled to programs that promise sustained, rational, and effective training; and global health training programs should be evaluated by the quality of the experience for trainees from all settings and by the incremental improvement in in-country care, infrastructure, and research. [adapted from author]

This is a systematic review of what is known concerning the knowledge, skills and attitudes of medical students regarding leadership and management. It reports the results pertaining to the attitudes of students to provide evidence to inform curriculum development in the developing field of medical education. [adapted from author]

This article evaluates an intensive three-month course developed to train non-physician clinicians for remote health centres to address the unmet need for emergency obstetrical care in rural areas.

This article describes a study protocol which aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Crew Resource Management (CRM) staff training to enhance patient safety in intensive care units. [adapted from abstract]

There is an accumulating body of evidence on gender differences in health workers’ employment patterns and pay, but inequalities in access to non-pecuniary benefits between men and women have received little attention. This study investigates empirically whether gender differences can be observed in health workers’ access to non-pecuniary benefits across six low- and middle-income countries. [from abstract]

The aims of this study are to show nurses’ perceptions of online continuing education and to determine perceptions of various groups; area groups, working companies, frequency of computer usage and age. [from abstract]

Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a model of care which has been widely used for physical disabilities in resource-poor settings. This study aimed to compare CBR with out-patient care (OPC) for schizophrenia in a resource-poor setting in India to determine if it is a feasible model for treatment in areas without specialized mental health care providers. [adapted from author]

This study aimed to provide country-specific estimates of the human resources that are required in the area of mental health to adequately care for the population in need of mental health care. It focused on eight priority problems as defined by the World Health Organization. [adapted from introduction]

The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which students in a graduate-entry medical program use various learning approaches to assist their learning and preparation for examinations, apart from those resources offered as part of the formal curriculum. [from abstract]

Human resource shortages are viewed as one of the primary obstacles to provide effective services to growing patient populations receiving antiretroviral therapy and explanding access further. This article examined the relationship of patient volume, human resource levels, and patient characteristics with attrition from HIV treatment programs in central Mozambique. [adapted from abstract]

The purpose of the study was to examine intimidation, harassment and/or discrimination as reported by Alberta family medicine graduates during their two-year residency program. [from abstract]

Traditional healers shoulder a large burden of care of patients with mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to describe the profiles and outcome of traditional healing practices for severe mental illnesses in Jinja and Iganga districts in the Busoga region of Eastern Uganda. [adapted from author]

This article argues that the combination of the widespread use of traditional healers and the shortages of biomedical human resources highlights the need for innovative experiments in making traditional healers potential co-partners in mental health care.

This study evaluated the feasibility of health worker training on and use of an abuse screening tool for women attending an outpatient department as a health care intervention to address gender-based violence. [adapted from author]

Given the very limited professional health care human resources in these settings, it is important to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programs as a delivery strategy for health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. This review focuses on the impact CHWs have when delivering curative interventions. [adapted from author]