Journal Articles

This article outlines the Latin American Medical School program model which trains young people from developing countries and sends them home as doctors with a pledge to practise in underserved areas. [adapted from author]

This article discusses the issue of maldistribution, which is arguably the most critical workforce challenge, not only for achieving universal coverage but also for addressing inextricably linked workforce problems such as shortages and skill imbalances. In many countries, overall shortages are exacerbated, indeed even caused, by severe maldistribution. [adapted from author]

Although there is a general acceptance of pharmacist prescribing in international pharmacy literature, this article investigates the implementation of pharmacist prescribing models internationally. [adapted from introduction]

Organizational factors are considered to be an important influence on health workers’ uptake of interventions that improve their practices. These are additionally influenced by factors operating at individual and broader health system levels. This article sought to explore contextual influences on worker motivation, a factor that may modify the effect of an intervention aimed at changing clinical practices in Kenyan hospitals. [from abstract]

This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with health care provider interactions and its influencing factors among out-patients at health centers in West Shoa, Central Ethiopia. [from abstract]

Ethiopia’s health extension workers (HEW) deliver preventive interventions and treat childhood diarrhea and malaria, but not pneumonia. Most of Ethiopia’s annual estimated 4 million childhood pneumonia cases go untreated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of volunteers in providing community case management for diarrhea, fever and pneumonia in a pre-HEW setting in Ethipia. [adapted from abstract]

This article aims at evaluating the traditional healers’ contribution as providers of care to HIV/AIDS patients and other chronically ill persons. [from abstract]

The aim of this article is to document the levels of HIV stigma reported by persons living with HIV infections and nurses in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania. HIV stigma has been shown to negatively affect the quality of life for people living with HIV infection, their adherence to medication, and their access to care. Few studies have documented HIV stigma by association as experienced by nurses or other health care workers who care for people living with HIV infection. [from abstract]

This qualitative paper reports on the experience of three community health worker (CHW) supervisors who were responsible for supporting infant feeding peer counsellors. The findings highlight the complexities of supervising and supporting CHWs. [adapted from abstract]

This review shows how lessons that have been learned from international experiences have been improved further in China by realignment of the incentives for providers towards prevention and primary care, and incorporation of a treatment protocol for hospital services. [from summary]

Ensuring skilled attendant at birth is acknowledged as one of the most effective interventions to reduce maternal deaths. Exploring the potential of community-based interventions in increasing the utilization of obstetric care, the study aimed at developing, testing and assesses a community-based safe motherhood intervention in Mtwara rural District of Tanzania. [from abstract]

India has the highest incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. The Government’s TB programme uses Directly Observed Treatment Short course to supervise patients’ treatment. However an estimated 40-50 per cent of TB treatment is accessed through private pharmacists. A challenge is to engage these pharmacists in TB control. [from author]

The migration of health workers and pharmacists in particular is seen as a problem with no easy solution. It is not simply a matter of difference in salary, but also in training and career progression opportunities and a conducive practice environment. A comprehensive package which offers a range of incentives is the best way forward. [from author]

Lay or community workers can be a valuable resource in response to the human resource crisis in many low- and middle-income countries. Successful interventions by lay health workers have led to improvements in maternal and child health, including reductions in mortality and morbidity from common childhood illnesses, and effective support to people receiving treatment for tuberculosis. [from author]

In Indonesia, a bottom-up workforce planning tool used with health workers directly has changed practice, realigned health workers’ roles, and increased motivation among staff. It shows how effective empowerment can be in the workplace. Workload Indicators of Staffing Need, or WISN, is straightforward and easily applied. [from author]

Very few innovations look at providing services for health care workers and the creation of wellness centres is a real innovation. The centres have opened the door to improved retention practices, better health and an increased sense of being valued for African health workers, who toil daily on the front lines of the battle against HIV and AIDS, TB and other infectious diseases. [from author]

In Ghana, faith-based organisations play an essential role in providing health care services, especially in rural areas. For a variety of reasons, it can be difficult to retain health care workers, putting essential services under threat. The National Catholic Health Service carried out some vital research to find out how to address the problem. [from author]

A study across three countries to identify policies which would help recruit and retain health workers in rural areas revealed that there is a danger in one size fits all recommendations when it comes to designing human resource policies. Results also show that there is room for both financial and non-financial incentives in human resource interventions in developing countries. [from author]

Heads of pharmacy schools in Africa, as with all global regions, are facing educational challenges to meet local medicines needs, ranging from the physical infrastructure and laboratory teaching equipment to the world-wide shortage in academic capacity to fill teaching positions. Seven heads of pharmacy schools in Africa met recently to discuss how to tackle this situation in order to provide solutions from which the global educational infrastructure can learn. [from author]

This article outlines the primary issues and underlying caused of the current health workforce crisis.

Information and communication technology can play a vital role in training healthcare professionals, across the board - in nursing schools, medical schools, urban settings, and even in rural areas where it is often needed the most, in remote hospitals, health centers and dispensaries that are under-staffed and where the addressable population is scattered. [from author]

Task shifting, allowing lower-level healthcare providers to perform some of the tasks normally reserved for higher—evel providers, has been proposed as one way to overcome the health workforce shortage. Studies consistently show that task shifting in the provision of HIV services (such as distributing antiretroviral therapy) and other areas of healthcare can increase access, improve the coverage and quality of health services, and reduce the costs of providing services. [adapted form author]

This systematic literature review covers the state of the evidence on task shifting, or delegating tasks performed by physicians to staff with lower-level qualifications, which is considered a means of expanding rollout of antiretroviral therapy in resource-poor or HRH-limited settings. [adapted from abstract]

Today, community pharmacists play an important role in any country as they take responsibility for patient’s medicine related needs for access to healthcare. This article seeks to discuss the genesis of Indian community pharmacy, the majority of which are privately owned, and sketches its education, training and future prospects. [from abstract]

Working in a hospital during an extraordinary infectious disease outbreak can cause significant stress and contribute to healthcare workers choosing to reduce patient contact. Psychological training of healthcare workers prior to an influenza pandemic may reduce stress-related absenteeism, however, established training methods that change behavior and attitudes are too resource-intensive for widespread use.

This study contends that increasing coverage of skilled delivery care and achieving the full implementation of Tanzania’s Focused Antenatal Care Package in Ngorongoro depends upon improved training and monitoring of health care providers, and greater family participation in antenatal care visits. [adapted from abstract]

A number of recent developments in medical and nursing education have highlighted the importance of communication and consultation skills (CCS). Although such skills are taught in all medical and nursing undergraduate curriculums, there is no comprehensive screening or assessment programme of CCS. This study was designed to test the content, process and acceptability of a screening programme in CCS with Irish medical and nursing students. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to explore in depth how primary care clinicians (general practitioners and practice nurses) derive their individual and collective healthcare decisions through an ethnographic study using standard methods (non-participant observation, semistructured interviews, and documentary review) over two years. [adapted from author]

Gaps in the midwifery tutors’ knowledge on comprehensive abortion care (CAC) have resulted in most midwives in Ghana not knowing the legal indications under which safe abortion care can be provided, and lacking the skills and competencies for CAC services. The aim of this study is to assess the capacity and willingness of midwifery tutors to teach contraception, post abortion care and legal termination in Ghana. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to examine the frequency and consequences of aggressive behaviour towards nurses and health care workers in different health sectors in Germany and to assess the need for preventive measures. [from abstract]