Evaluations & Reviews

This report is intended to generate discussion and direct future initiatives aimed at improving the current nationwide shortage of nurses. It is a review, analysis, and discussion of six major research documents on Canadian nursing human resource issues produced during the last five years. The questions this report sets out to answer are: What are the fundamental issues behind nursing human resource challenges? What solutions and strategies have been put forward to address them? What areas are being addressed? What areas have not been addressed and why? [from executive summary]

All health care professionals need to understand and implement the principles of EBM to improve care of their patients. Interactive and clinically integrated teaching and learning activities provide the basis for the best educational practice in this field. [summary]

This study describes the work of the Choose to Care initiative of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa which began in 2000. It shows that effective scaling-up of programmes in the response to HIV does not necessarily have to be the expansion of a single central service. Working through the diocesan and parish system,…the Catholic Church scaled up service provision by the replication of smaller scale programmes rooted in and responsive to the needs expressed by local communities in this five-country area.

This report summarizes a UK-wide survey to find out what information nurses, health visitors,midwives and health care assistants need to support their practice and lifelong learning. [adapted from author]

The Royal College of Nursing commissioned this report into the employment policy and practice implications of the rapid growth in the number of internationally recruited nurses working in the UK. [from summary]

This paper addresses an important practical challenge to staff management. We use a case study based on semi-structured interview data to explore the steps that Namibia, a country facing severe health problems that include an alarmingly high AIDS infection rate, has taken to manage its health workers. [from abstract]

The availability of medical human resource supply is a growing concern for rural and remote communities in many countries. In the last decade, various telehealth experiences in Canada have highlighted the potential impact of this technology on professional practice. The purpose of this study was to explore physicians’ and managers’ perceptions regarding the potential of telehealth to support recruitment and retention of physicians in remote and rural regions. [abstract]

This resource paper uses a simple framework to provide an analytical review of human resources for health (HRH) strategic plans that have been generated over the last few years by countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are faced with an HRH crisis. The author collected and analyzed HRH strategic plans for the following countries: Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia. The paper explores some of the key dynamics and steps in the evolution of these plans, including the plan development process and content, implementation bottlenecks and the frequency with which the plans are reviewed or evaluated.

Increasing evidence supporting the value of screening women for cervical cancer once in their lifetime, coupled with mounting interest in scaling up successful screening demonstration projects, present challenges to public health decision makers seeking to take full advantage of the single-visit opportunity to provide additional services.

Childhood immunization is a major public health concern in Cambodia. Given the high infant and child mortality rates and the low uptake rate of immunizations, a study of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of communities and health workers was conducted to identify barriers to immunization and inform future information, communication and education (IEC) strategies. Quantitative and qualitative research was conducted to discover the KAP of communities and health workers towards immunization services and the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine.

The purpose of the study is to obtain information on the level of workplace violence in the health sector in South Africa. In particular this study examines the extent of workplace violence, factors that may contribute to violence and explore the most suitable strategies and appropriate policies to prevent and address violence in the workplace. [introduction]

This research report has been published to illustrate the situation of workplace violence in the health sector in Thailand as well as contributing factors to, the consequences, and management of that violence. [from preface]

These studies measure and characterize the problem of violence against health professionals in the workplace in selected settings in Portugal. They answer questions such as: Who are the most affected health professionals? What types of violence are most frequent? In what circumstances do episodes of violence happen? What are the institutional procedures? What are the consequences for the victims, the Institutions and the perpetrators? What is the positioning of the NHS managers, the professional councils the unions and the professional associations about this problem? [author’s description]

This report results from a research project on violence against health care providers in selected health care units in Maputo city. The main objective of this work was to analyse the level of violence which existed in the hospitals of Maputo city, identifying the factors and forms of struggle or prevention of these events. [from introduction]

This case study evaluates workplace violence in the health sector of Lebanon. Information for the study came from focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and a questionnaire.

This case study examines the problem of workplace violence in the health sector of Bulgaria through consulting, examination and content analysis of the information and research available as well as conducting 6 focus groups and a confidential sociological survey. [adapted from author]

The objective of the country case studies consists in showing country-specific evidence and practical solutions concerning workplace violence in the health sector. By summarising existing information and analysing newly obtained information the study aims to identify risk factors as well as best practices of anti-violence interventions in the given socio-cultural context. This work will serve as a basis for the formulation of guidelines for prevention and coping strategies targeting issues of workplace violence in the health sector. [author’s description]

This research study gathered baseline information about occupational violence in the health care industry in Australia, to identify the contexts in which violence most commonly occurs, and to provide guidance on high-risk sites and commonly reported patterns of violent incidents. [adapted from author]

The present study reviews and analyses major known national guidelines and strategies for prevention and management of workplace violence. The purpose is to get a detailed picture of strategies recommended, a better knowledge on existing guidance for employers and employees. Another objective is to obtain information on the implementation processes and the impact of the reviewed guidelines. Identification of good practices as well as gaps shall serve as a basis for lessons learnt for the development of future guidance materials.

This study aims to summarise information, research and practice relating to the management of workplace violence victims under a set outline. The objectives are to confirm the importance of victim management to minimise the consequences of workplace violence in the health sector; to present the range of measures being used to meet the needs of victims, management and policy-makers; and where possible, provide data suggesting effectiveness and sustainability of the various measures. [from introduction]

Based on extensive literature analysis, this study tackles, for the first time in an extensive way, the topical issues of stress and violence at work in the health sector. The study highlights the magnitude of the problem; the key-factors at stake; the way such factors inter-relate with each other; their impact on working conditions and employment; the cost to the individual, the enterprise and the community, and offers innovative approaches to cope in an effective way with such problems. [from summary]

This State of the Art paper explores the literature and issues associated with violence in the health sector. It draws on the expertise of leading international experts in the field of violence at work, getting them to focus on the health sector. We assess in this paper the scope, definition and global context of workplace violence, information and reporting of violence, existing evidence of the prevalence of violence, the origins of violence, the impact of violence, and prevention and interventions to minimize workplace violence in the health sector.

While the scale of the [health worker shortage] crisis is huge, solutions do exist. Many countries and communities around the world have begun to develop and implement innovative initiatives to sustain and build the health workforce. Several such examples are highlighted here. They address such issues as retention in rural areas, AIDS treatment for health workers, and the deployment of paraprofessionals to extend health care access deeper into communities. Many of these examples focus on rural areas, which typically have only a fraction of the number of health workers as urban areas due to more difficult living conditions, social and professional isolation, and weaker health infrastructure. [publisher’s description]

Problems related to health worker motivation are remarkably pervasive, but to-date little attention has been paid to them in developing and transition countries. Basic tools to measure the determinants and consequences of motivation have not been adapted to contexts outside the industrialized world. This paper assesses the feasibility of transferring psychometric tools, typically used in industrialized countries to measure motivational processes, to other contexts. The paper draws upon two field studies conducted in two hospitals in the Republic of Georgia and two hospitals in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

A potentially effective strategy for bringing early, appropriate and low cost treatment of malaria closer to the home is through the use of community health workers. The objective of this study was to determine peoples’ stated and actual preferences for different strategies for improving the timeliness and appropriateness of treatment of malaria before and after the implementation of a community health workers strategy in their community. [from abstract]

This review of the South African Health Information System (HIS) maps essential health-related information, discusses the District Health Information System, details the current status of the HIS and the challenges the HIS faces.

The HIPC/PRSP process is intended to be a major instrument for achieving improved service delivery for poor people Crucially, improved service delivery depends on having the right professional, technical and other human resources in the right place at the right time. This review examined for 6 African countries, the country based poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) documentation and the associated World Bank/IMF HIPC documentation for human resources for health content. These documents were supplemented with other relevant country documents such as health strategies.

This rapid literature review was undertaken to assess how well human resources for education are covered in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) or linked documents of selected countries in the major change programmes embarked upon by government. The PRSPs and PRSP Progress Reports from six countries were selected for detailed analysis, namely Nicaragua, Albania, Tanzania, Zambia, Cambodia and Madagascar.

Nurses have assumed management positions in many health institutions. To properly accomplish the demands of this role, it is important that they be competent in both management and leadership. For appropriate performance, knowledge of management and supervision styles is a priority. Therefore, the goal of this investigation is to identify the nurse manager’s knowledge regarding management and leadership.

The objective of this study was to examine associations between management training of physician executives and their leadership styles, as well as effectiveness in achieving disease management goals. [author’s description]