Journal Articles

With increased globalization and interdependence among countries, sustained health worker migration and the complex threats of rapidly spreading infectious diseases a strong health workforce is essential. This article outlines the issues surrounding and the approaches to address the HRH crisis. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to test a peer group intervention to address personal HIV prevention needs of rural health workers in Malawi. [from abstract]

This article outlines the need for establishing contextually appropriate competencies in HIV and AIDS nursing as a fundamental step toward ensuring success in addressing the pandemic in Southern Africa.

This study assesses the new decentralized service provision system for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural populations in China. [from abstract]

The main objective of this article is to explore health workers’ experience of working conditions, linked to motivation to work. [from abstract]

This study reportw changes between 2006 and 2008 in numbers and employment status of health staff in three districts of Indonesia following the central government decision to offer doctors, nurses and midwives on contract the chance to convert to permanent civil service status. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to determine factors that will attract and retain rural and urban health workers to rural Nigerian communities, and to examine differences between the two groups. [from abstract]

This paper begins with a review of general practice financing in Australia, and how nurses are currently funded. We then examine the influence on funding structures on the role of the nurse. We set out three dilemmas for policymakers in this area: lack of an evidence base for incentives, possible untoward impacts on interdisciplinary functioning, and the substitution/enhancement debate. [from abstract]

Physicians leaving and reentering clinical practice can have significant medical workforce implications. This study surveyed inactive physicians younger than typical retirement age to determine their reasons for clinical inactivity and what barriers, real or perceived, there were to reentry into the medical workforce. [from abstract]

The authors postulate that learning among clinic group members is a particularly important attribute of a primary care clinic that has not yet been well-studied in the health care literature, but may be related to the ability of primary care practices to improve the care they deliver. This article aimes to better understand learning in primary care settings by developing a scale of learning in primary care clinics based on the literature related to learning across disciplines, and to examine the association between scale responses and chronic care model implementation. [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]

This article considers the shortage and maldistribution of health personnel in countries in southeast Asia in the context of international trade in health services. It analyzes the situation and identifies factors contributing to shortages and maldistribution in many countries in the region. The effect of trade in health services on the health workforce is discussed. [from introduction]

This article describes an innovative 2-year apprenticeship training program implemented by Makerere University School of Public Health to strengthen capacity for leadership and management of HIV/AIDS programs in Uganda. [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]

The objective of this study was to make a comprehensive assessment of community-based education (CBE) as implemented by Ugandan health professional training institutions to document the nature of CBE conducted and propose an ideal model with minimum requirements for health professional training institutions in Uganda. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to assess the influence of loan repayment and other factors on the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in rural Colorado, USA, and to compare the motivations and attitudes of these rural providers with their urban counterparts. [from introduction]

The purpose of this research was to identify aspects of work that have become more difficult for rural health workers as they have become older; and the age-related changes and exacerbating factors that contribute to these difficulties. Findings will support efforts to make workplaces more user-friendly for older health workers. [from abstract]

This study describes a novel method to review and evaluate clinical performance in TB management and for evaluating tuberculosis (TB) control at the point of care using a process-based performance review tool to identify missed opportunities for early and accurate TB diagnosis. This tool is a teaching strategy where clinicians retrospectively review patient records to evaluate crucial clinical actions, and has been shown to improve clinical performance. [from author]

This article describes Uganda’s transition from a paper filing system to an electronic HRIS capable of providing information about country-specific health workforce questions. It examines the ongoing five-step HRIS strengthening process used to implement an HRIS that tracks health worker data at the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council (UNMC) and describes how HRIS data can be used to address workforce planning questions. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes the National Rural Health Mission of India and the initiatives undertaken to address the lack of skilled service providers in rural areas including an increase in sanctioned posts for public health facilities, incentives, workforce management policies, locality-specific recruitment and the creation of a new service cadre specifically for public sector employment. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes a program directed at the re-supply of rural physicians in rural areas and its success in addressing the critical shortages caused by maldistribution of health care workers. [adapated from abstract]

Kenya has bold plans for scaling up priority interventions nationwide, but faces major human resource challenges, with a lack of skilled workers especially in the most disadvantaged rural areas. This study investigated reasons for poor recruitment and retention in rural areas and potential policy interventions through quantitative and qualitative data collection with nursing trainees. [adapted from abstract]

The development of best practices to promote physician wellbeing at the individual and organisational levels is receiving increased attention. Few studies have documented how physicians perceive their wellbeing in these contexts. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify and discuss the reported factors that hinder wellbeing, as well as the reported factors that would promote wellbeing among physicians. [from abstract]

This report provides some insights on the social and cultural factors that shape hygiene practices in Cambodian health care settings that need to be considered when designing interventions to improve infection control practices. [adapted from abstract]

Several training institutions have engaged in programs to expose pre-service health workers to rural health work to demystify it and to enable the professionals make an informed choice on practice location after qualification. In this study, the intentions of Ugandan medical students to work in rural health facilities after qualification were sounded out, together with the factors that affect them and their perception of rural areas. [from abstract]

In Uganda, the Faculty of Health Sciences of Uganda Martyrs University picked up the challenge of training health workers in the field of health promotion. Over 100 health workers have qualified in health promotion since 2004. This study followed up the graduates of the program to see what they are doing in the field, to see how their current work is related to health promotion, to see how they perceive their work and to identify the challenges they face in executing health promotion duties. [from abstract]

This study aimed to determine the level of health-care workers’ compliance with infection prevention guidelines and identify factors that influence compliance at Ronald Ross General Hospital, Mufulira District. [from abstract]

The study analyzes the deficiency that seem to exist between nurse curricula
and nurse practices and explore chronic care models or approaches evident among Zambian General Nursing Council (GNC) final year nursing students and GNC trained practicing nurses. The study also assesses how they formulate these chronic care models or approaches. [from author]

The Master of Medicine program is the clinical specialist postgraduate training started in response to increased training costs of specialists abroad, brain drain and an increasing demand for local specialists. The program’s objective were to produce specialists locally who would be easier to retain and able to work in district hospitals. The training costs would be proportionately less. This study reviews the outcome of the postgraduate program and assess whether the original intentions have been met to date. [adapted from introduction]

This study aimed to measure students’ perspectives on the teaching quality of the school of medicine at University of Zambia and concurrently measure health professionals educators perspectives on the need for teaching courses for health professionals educators (educational skills training). The results are discussed as indications for educational skills training for educators in health professionals’ education. [from abstract]