Journal Articles

The Rural Allied Health Workforce Study (RAHWS) uses a cross-sectional survey instrument with high validity to provide a large scale but detailed profile of the allied health workforce in regional, rural and remote Australia. The RAHWS survey instrument has been designed to provide uniform data across a wide range of healthcare settings and will be used to explore the rural allied health workforce in rural regions in Australia during 2009 and 2010. [from abstract]

This report describes field experiences with task shifting in Lusaka, Zambia, where a large public-sector ART program has enrolled over 71,000 HIV-infected adults and children across 19 program sites. It advocates a comprehensive, three-pronged approach to task-shifting that comprises training, on-site clinical mentoring, and continuous quality assurance. A structured approach is important so that clinical care is not compromised when clinical duties are initially shifted to less specialized health professionals. [from introduction]

The United Kingdom has recruited nurses from countries with a reported surplus in their nursing workforce, such as India and the Philippines. However, little is known about the decision to emigrate made by nurses from these countries. One theory suggests that individuals weigh the benefits and costs of migration: the push and pull factors. This paper challenges the restricted economic focus of this predominant theory and compares the diverse motivations of nurses from different countries as well as those of nurses with previous migratory experience and first-time migrants. [from abstract]

This paper reflects on human resources for health research. It provides recommendations regarding this increasingly important component of the overall strategy to improve the quality, quantity and stability of successful sustainable health system improvement in developing countries. [adapted from abstract]

This commentary article is focused on encouraging debate and discussion as to how health care professionals in the developed world might wish to re-think the relationship with colleagues in other health care environments and consider how to work together on a theme of two-way shared learning rather than one-way aid. [adapted from abstract]

There is broad policy consensus that a shortage of doctors and nurses is a key constraint to increasing utilization of essential health services important for achieving the health Millennium Development Goals. However, there is limited research on the quantitative links between health workers and service coverage rates. This article examines the relationship between doctor and nurse concentrations and utilization rates of five essential health services in developing countries. [adapted from abstract]

The human resources crisis in Africa is especially acute in the public health field. This paper describes the innovative aspects of the distance education program at the School of Public Health of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Strategies are proposed for scaling up such a program to meet the growing need in this essential area of health human resource capacity development in Africa. [adapted from abstract]

Ethiopia does not have a sufficient health care workforce to meet the population’s demand for services and the burden of disease. The objective of this project was to assess the usefulness and feasibility of collecting key participant and training information for monitoring and planning of HIV/AIDS services. This paper describes a project that uses training data to follow up with providers after training to assess whether they are still working in HIV/AIDS-related services. [adapted from introduction]

Health care workers in developing countries continue to lack access to basic, practical information to enable them to deliver safe, effective care. This paper provides the first phase of a broader literature review of the information and learning needs of health care providers in developing countries. [from abstract]

International recruitment of health professionals has been high on the policy debate agenda in recent years with increasing advocacy for the development of an international code of practice, notably the current draft for a WHO global code. This paper assesses the effect of the first national code, which has been in place in England since 2001 and as such has lessons for current initiatives in other countries and globally. [from introduction]

This article provides an overview of how new research in India and Nigeria offers innovative strategies to improve health care provider performance.

The health worker shortage in sub-Saharan Africa derives from many causes, yet the dynamics of entry into and exit from the health workforce in many of these countries remain poorly understood. This limits the capacity of national governments and their international development partners to design and implement appropriate intervention programmes. This paper provides some of this information through the first systematic estimates of health worker inflow and outflow in selected sub-Saharan African countries. [adapted from introduction]

This study involves the development and evaluation of training materials for provider-initiated HIV counseling and testing, HIV prevention and integrated primary HIV care and support for use by health care workers involved in the care of patients with TB at the primary health care clinic level in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [adapted from abstract]

This article reports on research that assessed international and national best practice in the selection of students for graduate entry medical courses in order to investigate correlations between medical student selection procedures and exposure to rural medical practice during medical training with choice of careers in rural medicine. Central to the study was the issue of the medical workforce shortage in Australia’s rural communities. [from introduction]

Currently, a wide variety of community health workers are active in many antiretroviral treatment delivery sites. This article investigates whether present community health worker programmes for antiretroviral treatment are taking into account the lessons learnt from past experiences with community health worker programmes in primary health care and to what extent they are seizing the new antiretroviral treatment-specific opportunities. [from abstract]

This commentary outlines strategies the authors have found successful in aligning health education and training with local health needs in ways that demonstrate socially accountable outcomes for Vancouver Island, Canada. [adapted from abstract]

This study explores the experience of conflict as perceived by Iranian hospital nurses in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Although conflict-control approaches have been extensively researched throughout the world, no research-based data are available on the perception of conflict and effective resolutions among hospital nurses in Iran. [adapted from abstract]

Rural township health centres and urban community health centres play a crucial role in the delivery of primary health care in China. The limited availability and low qualifications of human resources in health are among the main challenges facing lower-level health facilities. This paper aims to analyse the mobility of health workers in township and community health centres. [from abstract]

This paper reports on the first international attempt to investigate the migration intentions of pharmacy students and identify migration factors and their relationships. [from abstract]

The issue of participation by medical providers from wealthy countries in short-term medical volunteer work in resource-poor countries has been reaised as being potentially harmful to recipient communities. This exploratory study examines the perception of short-term medical volunteer work in Guatemala from the perspective of members of recipient communities affected by or participating in these programs. [adapted from sbstract]

In the face of medical workforce shortages, governments are looking to displace doctors with alternative health care providers like nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other health professionals such as psychologists and pharmacists to relieve bottlenecks in health care delivery. Displacing doctors in this way, or role or task substitution as it is also termed, has been actively pursued in the United Kingdom and United States. How should the medical profession react to these developments? [from author]

This study undertook an in-depth exploration of the unintended consequences of pay-for-performance programs In England and California. The authors interviewed primary care physicians in California and England and compared unintended consequences in each setting. [adapted from abstract]

Health facility assessments are being increasingly used to measure and monitor indicators of health workforce performance, but the global evidence base remains weak. The World Health Organization coordinated a series of facility-based surveys using a common approach in six countries: Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The objectives were to inform the development and monitoring of human resources for health policy within the countries; and to test and validate the use of standardized facility-based human resources assessment tools across different contexts.

East African countries have in the recent past experienced a tremendous increase in the volume of antiretroviral drugs. Capacity to manage these medicines in the region remains limited. Makerere University established a network of academic institutions to build capacity for pharmaceutical management in the East African region. The initiative includes institutions from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda and aims to improve access to safe, effective and quality-assured medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria through spearheading in-country capacity.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran has undertaken a reform of its health system, in which-lower level managers are given new roles and responsibilities in a decentralized system. To support these efforts, a series of courses for health managers and trainers was developed. A total of seven short training courses were implemented, and a detailed evaluation of the courses was undertaken to guide future development of the training programs. [adapted from abstract]

This paper will use India as a lens to examine the broader issues surrounding human resources and public health. It will explore some of the HR strategies employed in a variety of settings with mixed results. Finally, it will look at several very contrasting approaches employed by two Indian states, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, in dealing with human resource shortages as they struggle to reduce maternal mortality. [from author]

The study assessed knowledge and practice of health care providers on current concepts on malaria prophylaxis in pregnancy. [from abstract]

The Trauma Management Program (TMP) was developed to improve the capacity of local health workers to deliver effective trauma care. This report illustrates a method to increase the capacity of indigenous health workers to manage traumatic injuries. These health workers are able to provide trauma care for otherwise inaccessible populations in remote and conflicted regions. The principles learnt during the implementation of the TMP might be applied in similar settings. [from introduction]

There is a general consensus that another influenza pandemic is inevitable. Although health care workers (HCWs) are essential to the health system response, there are few studies exploring HCW attitudes to pandemic influenza. The aim of this study was to explore HCWs knowledge, attitudes and intended behaviour towards pandemic influenza. [from abstract]

Mid-level cadres of health workers provide the bulk of emergency obstetric and neonatal care in Malawi. This study set out to explore the perceptions of mid-level providers regarding the factors affecting their performance and retention within the Malawian health system. [adapted from author]