Journal Articles

Review of the Application and Contribution of Discrete Choice Experiments to inform Human Resources Policy Interventions

We carried out a literature review of studies using discrete choice experiments to investigate human resources issues related to health workers, both in developed and developing countries. Ten studies were found that used discrete choice experiments to investigate the job preferences of health care providers. The use of discrete choice experiments techniques enabled researchers to determine the relative importance of different factors influencing health workers’ choices. [from abstract]

Establishing and Monitoring Benchmarks for Human Resources for Health: the Workforce Density Approach

This article offers guidance regarding the benchmarking of health workforce sufficiency as a critical component of monitoring and strengthening the performance of national health systems. [adapted from introduction]

Internet Tool Box for Rural GPs to Access Mental Health Services Information

This article documents the key stages of a project to develop and implement an online resource for facilitating local implementation and delivery of a program to provide improved access to mental health care. The article also reports on the use of this resource 12 months after its launch. [adapted from abstract]

Critical Review of Interventions to Redress the Inequitable Distribution of Healthcare Professionals to Rural and Remote Areas

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the most important studies addressing the recruitment and retention of doctors to rural and remote areas of Australia. [adapted from abstract]

Managing Evidence-Based Knowledge: the Need for Reliable, Relevant and Readable Resources

The sheer volume of research-based evidence is one of the main barriers to better use of knowledge. About 10 years ago, if general internists wanted to keep abreast of the primary clinical literature, they would have needed to read 17 articles daily. Today, with more than 1000 articles indexed daily by MEDLINE, that figure is likely double. The problem is compounded by the inability of clinicians to afford more than a few seconds at a time in their practices for finding and assimilating evidence.

Financial Incentives for Return of Service in Underserved Areas: a Systematic Review

This article assesses the potential impact of financial incentives in alleviating health worker shortages in underserved areas through contracting future health workers to work for a number of years in an underserved area in exchange for a financial pay-off. [adapted from author]

Assessing Missed Opportunities for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in an Eastern Cape Local Service Area

This article provides an assessment of the number and types of missed opportunities by health workers for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission in Eastern Cape, South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

Human Resource Requirements for Introducing Cervical Screening — Who Do We Need Where?

This article discusses the estimated requirements and imbalances of province-specific health personnel required for introducing cervical screening in South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

Community Health Workers in South Africa: Where in This Maze Do We Find Ourselves?

This article offers an analysis of the role community health worker programs and activities in South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

Traditional Healers and Pediatric Care

This article discusses the role of traditional healers in pediatric care in South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

Traditional Healer as Part of the Primary Health Care Team?

This article discusses the feasibility of including traditional healers in the primary health care team to achieve true co-operation between the modern and the traditional health care sector in South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

Rural Origin Health Science Students in South African Universities

Increasing the proportion of rural-origin students in health sciences faculties has been shown to be one way of addressing of health care professionals in rural areas. This article discusses a retrospective descriptive study to determine the proportion of rural-origin students
at all medical schools in South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

Health Worker Shortages and Inequalities: the Reform of United States Policy

This paper advocates multiple strategies for the United States to further assist with solving the global health workforce crisis.

High Workload and Job Stress are Associated with Lower Practice Performance in General Practice: an Observational Study in 239 General Practices in the Netherlands

This study explores whether high physician workload and job stress were associated with lower quality and outcomes of healthcare delivery performance in general practice settings in the Netherlands. [adapted from abstract]

Participant Observation of Time Allocation, Direct Patient Contact and Simultaneous Activities in Hospital Physicians

This article details the results of a preliminary study on the activity patterns, time allocation and simultaneous activities of hospital physicians. [adapted from abstract]

Effectiveness of Web-Based and Face-to-Face Continuing Education Methods on Nurses' Knowledge About AIDS: a Comparative Study

This paper describes the results of a study comparing the effectiveness of web-based and face-to-face continuing education methods in improving nurses' knowledge about AIDS. [adapted from abstract]

Community Health Workers and Home-Based Care Programs for HIV Clients

This paper discusses the role and impact of community health workers in Nyanza Province, Kenya, in response to the growing demands the HIV epidemic has placed on the people and communities in this region. [adapted from abstract]

Surgical Task Shifting in Sub-Saharan Africa

One of the main barriers to surgical care in resource-limited settings is the shortage of trained health workers. A number of approaches are being employed to overcome this shortage including the mobilization of non-physician clinicians to perform surgical and anesthetic tasks. This paper discusses some of the experiences of surgical task shifting to date, and outlines lessons from task shifting in the delivery of HIV/AIDS care in sub-Saharan Africa. [adapted from abstract]

Global Pharmacy Workforce: a Systematic Review of the Literature

Maintenance and expansion of the future pharmacy workforce is essential for addressing the worldwide shortage of pharmacists. [adapted from abstract]

Task Shifting: the Answer to the Human Resources Crisis in Africa?

The delegation of tasks from one cadre to another has been used in many countries for decades. However, rapidly increasing care needs and accelerating human resource crises in Africa have given task shifting new prominence and urgency. This commentary argues that task shifting holds great promise, but that any long-term success of task shifting hinges on serious political and financial commitments. [adapted from abstract]

Designing Financial-Incentive Programs for Return of Medical Service in Underserved Areas: Seven Management Functions

Health worker shortages are one of the main constraints in achieving worldwide population health goals. Financial-incentive programs for return of service can alleviate local and regional health worker shortages through a number of mechanisms. This article draws on studies of financial-incentive programs and other initiatives with similar objectives to discuss management functions that are essential for the long-term success of financial-incentive programmes. [adapted from abstract]

Conflicting Priorities: Evaluation of an Intervention to Improve Nurse-Parent Relationships on a Tanzanian Pediatric Ward

This article provides an evaluation of an intervention using the Health Workers for Change initiative for improving the relationship between nurses and parents on a pediatric ward in a busy regional hospital in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

Role of Pharmacists in Developing Countries: the Current Scenario in Pakistan

The pharmacy profession has expanded significantly in recent years in professional services delivery and now has been recognized as an important profession in the multidisciplinary provision of health care. In contrast to the situation in developed countries, pharmacists in developing countries are still underutilized and their role as health care professionals is not deemed important by either the community or other health care providers.

Burnout and Use of HIV Services Among Health Care Workers in Lusaka District, Zambia: a Cross-Sectional Study

Well-documented shortages of health care workers in sub-Saharan Africa are exacerbated by the increased human resource demands of rapidly expanding HIV care and treatment programmes. The successful continuation of existing programmes is threatened by health care worker burnout and HIV-related illness. This article details the results of a study conducted among health providers in the Lusaka public health sector. [adapted from abstract]

Employment and Sociodemographic Characteristics: a Study of Increasing Precarity in the Health Districts of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The fundamental importance of human resources for the development of health care systems is recognized the world over. Health districts, which constitute the middle level of the municipal health care system in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, deal with demands from all parts of the system. This research seeks to provide the essential features required in order to understand the phenomenon of increase in precarity of employment in these health districts. [from abstract]

Understanding Informal Payments in Health Care: Motivation of Health Workers in Tanzania

There is growing evidence that informal payments for health care are fairly common in many low- and middle-income countries. Informal payments are reported to have a negative consequence on equity and quality of care; it has been suggested, however, that they may contribute to health worker motivation and retention. This study suggests that the practice of informal payments contributes to the general demotivation of health workers and negatively affects access to health care services and quality of the health system. [adapted from abstract]

Internationally Trained Pharmacists in Great Britain: What do Registration Data Tell Us About Their Recruitment?

Internationally trained health professionals are an important part of the domestic workforce, but little is known about pharmacists who come to work in Great Britain. This paper explores the extent to which Great Britain is relying on the contribution of internationally trained pharmacists and to explore their routes of entry and demographic characteristics and compare them to those of pharmacists trained in Great Britain. [adapted from abstract]

Snapshot of the Australian Public Hospital Pharmacy Workforce in 2005

The first study of the Australian hospital pharmacy workforce (public and private hospitals) was undertaken in 2001. Data from this study provided a baseline and were used to estimate the future demand for hospital pharmacists. This article summarizes an update of this survey done in 2005. [adapted from author]

Snapshot of the Australian Public Hospital Pharmacy Workforce in 2007

The first study of the Australian hospital pharmacy workforce (public and private hospitals) was undertaken in 2001. Data from this study provided a baseline and were used to estimate the future demand for hospital pharmacists. This article summarizes an update of this survey done in 2007. [adapted from author]

Traditional Birth Attendants in Rural Nepal: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices about Maternal and Newborn Health

Efforts to formalize the role of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in maternal and neonatal health programmes have had limited success. Continued attendance by TBAs at home deliveries suggests the potential to influence maternal and neonatal outcomes. The objective of this qualitative study was to identify and understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of TBAs in rural Nepal. [adapted from abstract]