Articles

Medical students from German-speaking countries on abroad electives in Africa: destinations, motivations, trends and ethical dilemmas

International medical electives are one the highlights of medical training. Literature about international electives is scarce, and understanding what made a student choose one destination over another is uncl...

Authors: Maximilian Andreas Storz, Ann-Kathrin Lederer and Eric Pieter Heymann

Conceptualizing and implementing a health workforce registry in Nigeria

Nigeria’s health sector aims to ensure that the right number of health workers that are qualified, skilled, and distributed equitably, are available for quality health service provision at all levels. Achievin...

Authors: Sunny C. Okoroafor, Agbonkhese I. Oaiya, David Oviaesu, Adam Ahmat, Martin Osubor and Jennifer Nyoni

Accreditation and professional integration experiences of internationally qualified dentists working in the United Kingdom

Regulatory processes for Oral health care professionals are considered essential for patient safety and to ensure health workforce quality. The global variation in their registration and regulation is under-r...

Authors: Latha S. Davda, David R. Radford, Sasha Scambler and Jennifer E. Gallagher

Three decades of a lesson learned from Thailand: compulsory service for dentist workforce distribution

Thailand has encountered an imbalanced dentist distribution and an internal brain drain of dentists from public to private health care facilities. To tackle these challenges, the compulsory service (CS) progra...

Authors: Tanit Arunratanothai, Ravisorn Booncharoen, Sirapop Suwankomolkul and Nareudee Limpuangthip

Contested notions of challenges affecting Community Health Workers in low- and middle-income countries informed by the Silences Framework

Despite increasing evidence of the challenges affecting Community Health Workers (CHWs) such as those related to training, supportive supervision and remuneration, there is a need to explore concerns and chall...

Authors: David Musoke, Mathew Nyashanu, Henry Bugembe, Grace Biyinzika Lubega, James O’Donovan, Abdullah Ali Halage and Linda Gibson

A review of the continuous professional development system for pharmacists

The Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (PPS) implemented a system of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for pharmacists in 2004. This system has evolved throughout the years, and currently all active pha...

Authors: Jorge P. B. Batista, Carla Torre, José Manuel Sousa Lobo and Bruno Sepodes

Systematic review of performance-enhancing health worker supervision approaches in low- and middle-income countries

The strength of a health system—and ultimately the health of a population—depends to a large degree on health worker performance. However, insufficient support to build, manage and optimize human resources for...

Authors: Rachel Deussom, Doris Mwarey, Mekdelawit Bayu, Sarah S. Abdullah and Rachel Marcus

The effectiveness of supervision strategies to improve health care provider practices in low- and middle-income countries: secondary analysis of a systematic review

Although supervision is a ubiquitous approach to support health programs and improve health care provider (HCP) performance in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), quantitative evidence of its effects is ...

Authors: Samantha Y. Rowe, Dennis Ross-Degnan, David H. Peters, Kathleen A. Holloway and Alexander K. Rowe

Health workforce strategies in response to major health events: a rapid scoping review with lessons learned for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic

The early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic brought multiple concurrent threats—high patient volume and acuity and, simultaneously, increased risk to health workers. Healthcare managers and decision-makers needed...

Authors: Alison Coates, Asli-Oubah Fuad, Amanda Hodgson and Ivy Lynn Bourgeault

Effectiveness of a large-scale, sustained and comprehensive community health worker program in improving population health: the experience of an urban health district in South Africa

South Africa is an upper middle-income country with wide wealth inequality. It faces a quadruple burden of disease and poor health outcomes, with access to appropriate and adequate health care a challenge for ...

Authors: L. S. Thomas, E. Buch, Y. Pillay and J. Jordaan

Retention of knowledge and clinical competence among Ugandan mid-level health providers 1 year after intensive clinical mentorship in TB and HIV management

Clinical mentorship is effective in improving knowledge and competence of health providers and may be a useful task sharing approach for improving antiretroviral therapy. However, the endurance of the effect o...

Authors: Dan K. Senjovu, Sarah Naikoba, Pallen Mugabe, Damazo T. Kadengye, Carey McCarthy, Patricia L. Riley and Shona Dalal

The prevalence of turnover intention and influencing factors among emergency physicians: a national observation

Adverse consequences of physician turnover include financial losses, reduced patient satisfaction, and organizational instability. However, no study has reported the prevalence among emergency physicians. This...

Authors: Shijiao Yan, Xin Shen, Rixing Wang, Zhiqian Luo, Xiaotong Han, Yong Gan and Chuanzhu Lv

Evaluating the association of state regulation of community health workers on adoption of standard roles, skills, and qualities by employers in select states: a mixed methods study

The occupation of community health worker (CHW) has evolved to support community member navigation of complex health and social systems. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics formally recognized the occupation o...

Authors: Tammie M. Jones, Alex Schulte, Suhashini Ramanathan, Meron Assefa, Srilatha Rebala and Peggy J. Maddox

The State of the World’s Midwifery 2021 report: findings to drive global policy and practice

The third global State of the World’s Midwifery report (SoWMy 2021) provides an updated evidence base on the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health (SRMNAH) workforce. For the first time...

Authors: Andrea Nove, Petra ten Hoope-Bender, Martin Boyce, Sarah Bar-Zeev, Luc de Bernis, Geeta Lal, Zoë Matthews, Million Mekuria and Caroline S. E. Homer

Association between supportive supervision and performance of community health workers in India: a longitudinal multi-level analysis

Community health workers (CHWs) deliver services at-scale to reduce maternal and child undernutrition, but often face inadequate support from the health system to perform their job well. Supportive supervision...

Authors: Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan, Nadia Diamond-Smith, Rasmi Avula, Purnima Menon, Lia Fernald, Dilys Walker and Sumeet Patil

Factors influencing the performance of community health volunteers working within urban informal settlements in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative meta-synthesis review

There is limited information on community health volunteer (CHV) programmes in urban informal settlements in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This is despite such settings accounting for a high burden...

Authors: Michael Ogutu, Kui Muraya, David Mockler and Catherine Darker

Practices and resilience of dieticians during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national survey in the United Arab Emirates

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the practices and resilience of most healthcare workers, including dieticians. In addition to offering critical care to COVID-19 patients, dieticians play a major role in prevent...

Authors: Farah Naja, Hadia Radwan, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Mona Hashim, Wafaa Helmi Rida, Salma Abu Qiyas, Karen Bou-Karroum and Mohamad Alameddine

Job satisfaction among Syrian healthcare workers in refugee health centres

Achieving universal health coverage is subject to the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health workers. Countries that host refugees and migrants, such as Turkey, must strengthen the c...

Authors: Monica Zikusooka, Omur Cinar Elci and Habibe Özdemir

Do health policies address the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of human resources for health? Analysis over three decades of National Health Policy of India

Human Resources for Health (HRH) are crucial for improving health services coverage and population health outcomes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) promotes countries to formulate holistic policies that fo...

Authors: Sweta Dubey, Jeel Vasa and Siddhesh Zadey

Correction to: Real wage growth in the U.S. health workforce and the narrowing of the gender pay gap

Authors: Janis Barry

COVID-19 vaccine uptake among health care workers in Ghana: a case for targeted vaccine deployment campaigns in the global south

Health care workers (HCWs) are among the high-risk groups in contracting and dying from COVID-19. World Health Organization estimates that over 10,000 HCWs in Africa have been infected with COVID-19 making it ...

Authors: Robert Kaba Alhassan, Seth Owusu-Agyei, Evelyn Korkor Ansah and Margaret Gyapong

Challenges facing the More Doctors program (Programa Mais Médicos) in vulnerable and peri-urban areas in Greater Brasilia, Brazil

A shortage of physicians, especially in vulnerable and peri-urban areas, is a global phenomenon that has serious implications for health systems, demanding policies to assure the provision and retention of hea...

Authors: Helena Eri Shimizu, Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos, Mauro Niskier Sanchez, Thomas Hone, Christopher Millett and Matthew Harris

Management of burnout among the staff of primary care centres in Spain during the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2

The provision of healthcare during the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus represented a challenge for the management of the resources in the primary care centres. We proposed assessing burnout among the s...

Authors: Isaac Aranda-Reneo, Azucena Pedraz-Marcos and Montserrat Pulido-Fuentes

Increasing doctors working in specific rural regions through selection from and training in the same region: national evidence from Australia

‘Grow your own’ strategies are considered important for developing rural workforce capacity. They involve selecting health students from specific rural regions and training them for extended periods in the sam...

Authors: Matthew R. McGrail and Belinda G. O’Sullivan

Pharmacists as immunizers in Lebanon: a national survey of community pharmacists’ willingness and readiness to administer adult immunization

Since the focus of healthcare has shifted toward prevention, pharmacists were highly encouraged to expand their practice to include immunization services. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and...

Authors: Dalal Youssef, Linda Abou-Abbas, Suzan Farhat and Hamad Hassan

Documentation and dissemination of scientific evidence by the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program: experiences and lessons learnt, 2015–2020

During participation in Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP) residents/fellows generate scientific evidence from the various public health projects they are engaged in. However, this evidence is not suf...

Authors: Lilian Bulage, Alex Riolexus Ario, Steven N. Kabwama, Benon Kwesiga, Daniel Kadobera, Christine Kihembo, Simon Antara and Rhoda K. Wanyenze

The workforce for rehabilitation in primary health care in Brazil

Studies on the workforce in rehabilitation in primary health care services are still unusual in health systems analysis. Data on the health worker density at the subnational level in rehabilitation in primary ...

Authors: Debora Bernardo da Silva, Taciana Rocha dos Santos Sixel, Arthur de Almeida Medeiros, Paulo Henrique dos Santos Mota, Aylene Bousquat and Ana Carolina Basso Schmitt

Factors associated with the rural and remote practice of medical workforce in Maluku Islands of Indonesia: a cross-sectional study

Many factors contribute to engagement in rural and remote (RR) medical practice, but little is known about the factors associated with rural and remote medical practice in such remote locations as the Maluku P...

Authors: Farah Noya, Sandra Carr, Sandra Thompson, Rhonda Clifford and Denese Playford

A systematic review of the profile and density of the maternal and child health workforce in China

To track progress in maternal and child health (MCH), understanding the health workforce is important. This study seeks to systematically review evidence on the profile and density of MCH workers in China.

Authors: Huan Zhang, Xiaoyun Liu, Loveday Penn-Kekana and Carine Ronsmans

The role of community health workers in the surgical cascade: a scoping review

Community health workers (CHWs) can increase access to various primary healthcare services; however, their potential for improving surgical care is under-explored. We sought to assess the role of CHWs in the s...

Authors: Helen W. Li, Michael L. Scanlon, Nicholas Kisilu and Debra K. Litzelman

The experiences of new graduate nurses and midwives going through a virtual interview recruitment process during the COVID-19 crisis: a cross-sectional study

The annual recruitment of new graduate nurses and midwives is key to recruiting large numbers of staff with the right attitude, skills and knowledge who are the best fit for the organisation. Virtual interview...

Authors: Doreen Holm, Se Ok Ohr and Michelle Giles

Accreditation of private midwifery and nursing schools in Mali: a local sustainable solution to increasing the supply of qualified health workers

The World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health (HRH) emphasizes the importance of dynamic and effective health worker regulation for achieving the health-related Sustainable Deve...

Authors: Cheick Oumar Touré, Sujata Bijou, Melanie Joiner, Andrew Brown, Jeanne Tessougué, Hamada Maiga, Fatoumata Dicko and Abdel Kader Keïta

Frontline healthcare workers’ mental distress, top concerns, and assessment on hierarchy of controls in response to COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey study

The existing studies showed that frontline healthcare workers during an epidemic experienced unusual stressors and mental distress which even lasted for years after the crisis. It is important to learn about t...

Authors: Lingling Zhang, Kimberlee L. Flike, C. Ann Gakumo, Ling Shi, Suzanne G. Leveille and Linda S. Thompson

A multimodal mentorship intervention to improve surgical quality in Tanzania’s Lake Zone: a convergent, mixed methods assessment

Safe, high-quality surgical care in many African countries is a critical need. Challenges include availability of surgical providers, improving quality of care, and building workforce capacity. Despite growing...

Authors: Shehnaz Alidina, Leopold Tibyehabwa, Sakshie Sanjay Alreja, David Barash, Danta Bien-Aime, Monica Cainer, Kevin Charles, Edwin Ernest, Joachim Eyembe, Laura Fitzgerald, Geofrey C. Giiti, Augustino Hellar, Yahaya Hussein, Furaha Kahindo, Benard Kenemo, Albert Kihunrwa…

Regulation of non-conventional therapies in Portugal: lessons learnt for strengthening human resources in health

The integration of non-conventional therapies (NCT) into health policies and health services delivery is a worldwide trend and might have a role in achieving Universal Health Coverage. WHO has encouraged count...

Authors: Pascoal Amaral and Inês Fronteira

Employment and working conditions of nurses: where and how health inequalities have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Nurses and midwives play a critical role in the provision of care and the optimization of health services resources worldwide, which is particularly relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, they...

Authors: Alba Llop-Gironés, Ana Vračar, Gisela Llop-Gironés, Joan Benach, Livia Angeli-Silva, Lucero Jaimez, Pramila Thapa, Ramesh Bhatta, Santosh Mahindrakar, Sara Bontempo Scavo, Sonia Nar Devi, Susana Barria, Susana Marcos Alonso and Mireia Julià

Global accreditation practices for accelerated medically trained clinicians: a view of five countries

Shortages and maldistribution of healthcare workers persist despite efforts to increase the number of practitioners. Evidence to support policy planning and decisions is essential. The World Health Organizatio...

Authors: James Antwi, Anthony Asare Arkoh, Joseph Kiprop Choge, Turi Woticha Dibo, Alias Mahmud, Enkhtuya Vankhuu, Erick Kizito Wanyama and Danette Waller McKinley

Effect of healthcare system reforms on job satisfaction among village clinic doctors in China

Village clinic doctors (VCDs) are part of the health service force in rural China. VCDs’ job satisfaction (JS) is important to the stability of the three-tiered health service system. Since 2009, the Chinese g...

Authors: Zhongming Chen, Lifang Zhou, Haiyuan Lv, Kui Sun, Hongwei Guo, Jinwei Hu, Qianqian Yu, Dongmei Huang, Dongping Ma, Zhiqiang Feng, Changhai Tang, Mengna Dai and Wenqiang Yin

Physiotherapy services in patient care in Bhutan

Physiotherapy and rehabilitative services are an integral part of patient care, but in many developing countries they are not considered a priority and are either not available or not easily accessible to thos...

Authors: Monu Tamang and Thinley Dorji

Needs-led human resource planning for Sierra Leone in support of oral health

In Sierra Leone (SL), a low-income country in West Africa, dental care is very limited, largely private, and with services focused in the capital Freetown. There is no formal dental education. Ten dentists sup...

Authors: Swapnil Gajendra Ghotane, Patric Don-Davis, David Kamara, Paul R. Harper, Stephen J. Challacombe and Jennifer E. Gallagher

Real wage growth in the U.S. health workforce and the narrowing of the gender pay gap

Healthcare has been identified as a job engine during recent recessions in the U.S. Whether the healthcare sector provides better than average pay remains a question. This study investigates if wages grew with...

Authors: Janis Barry

Application of the Ultra-Poverty Graduation Model in understanding community health volunteers’ preferences for socio-economic empowerment strategies to enhance retention: a qualitative study in Kilifi, Kenya

A significant shortage of healthcare workforce exists globally. To achieve Universal Healthcare coverage, governments need to enhance their community-based health programmes. Community health volunteers (CHVs)...

Authors: Njeri Nyanja, Nelson Nyamu, Lucy Nyaga, Sophie Chabeda, Adelaide Lusambili, Marleen Temmerman, Michaela Mantel and Anthony Ngugi

Interventions for health workforce retention in rural and remote areas: a systematic review

Attracting and retaining sufficient health workers to provide adequate services for residents of rural and remote areas has global significance. High income countries (HICs) face challenges in staffing rural a...

Authors: Deborah Russell, Supriya Mathew, Michelle Fitts, Zania Liddle, Lorna Murakami-Gold, Narelle Campbell, Mark Ramjan, Yuejen Zhao, Sonia Hines, John S. Humphreys and John Wakerman

Education policies to increase rural physicians in Japan: a nationwide cohort study

Japan has established comprehensive education-scholarship programs to supply physicians in rural areas. Their entrants now comprise 16% of all medical students, and graduates must work in rural areas for a des...

Authors: Masatoshi Matsumoto, Yasushi Matsuyama, Saori Kashima, Soichi Koike, Yuji Okazaki, Kazuhiko Kotani, Tetsuhiro Owaki, Shizukiyo Ishikawa, Seitaro Iguchi, Hitoaki Okazaki and Takahiro Maeda

The physiotherapy workforce in the Brazilian Unified Health Care System

Maintaining sufficient health care workforce is a global priority to achieve universal health coverage. Therefore this study addresses the availability of physiotherapists in Brazil.

Authors: Carolina Hart Rodés, João Vitor Lovato Daré, Bruna Carolina de Araujo, Leonardo Graciani, Silvia Maria Amado João, Ana Claudia Camargo Gonçalves Germani and Ana Carolina Basso Schmitt

The impact of colonial-era policies on health workforce regulation in India: lessons for contemporary reform

Regulation is a critical function in the governance of health workforces. In many countries, regulatory councils for health professionals guide the development and implementation of health workforce policy, bu...

Authors: Veena Sriram, Vikash R. Keshri and Kiran Kumbhar

Does supportive supervision intervention improve community health worker knowledge and practices for community management of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia? Lessons for scale-up from Nigraan and Nigraan Plus trials in Pakistan

Lack of programmatic support and supervision is one of the underlying reasons of the poor performance of Pakistan’s Lady Health Worker Program (LHWP). This study describes the findings and potential for scale-...

Authors: Wafa Aftab, Suneel Piryani and Fauziah Rabbani

Retention of visa-trainee post-graduate residents in Canada: a retrospective cohort study

Visa trainees (international medical graduates [IMG] who train in Canada under a student or employment visa) are expected to return home after completing their training. We examine the retention patterns of vi...

Authors: Maria Mathews, Dania Koudieh, Yanqing Yi, Lindsay Hedden, Emily Gard Marshall, Asoka Samarasena, Geoff Barnum and Ivy Bourgeault

Brazil’s more doctors programme and infant health outcomes: a longitudinal analysis

Providing sufficient numbers of human resources for health is essential for effective and accessible health services. Between 2013 and 2018, the Brazilian Ministry of Health implemented the Programa Mais Médicos ...

Authors: Charlotte Bexson, Christopher Millett, Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos, Ricardo de Sousa Soares, Felipe Proenço de Oliveira and Thomas Hone

A practical measure of health facility efficiency: an innovation in the application of routine health information to determine health worker productivity in Ethiopia

A simple indicator of technical efficiency, such as productivity of health workers, measured using routine health facility data, can be a practical approach that can inform initiatives to improve efficiency in...

Authors: Md Zabir Hasan, Girmaye D. Dinsa and Peter Berman