Articles

Attracting and retaining physicians in less attractive specialties: the role of continuing medical education

Less attractive specialties in medicine are struggling to recruit and retain physicians. When properly organized and delivered, continuing medical education (CME) activities that include short courses, coachin...

Authors: Van Anh Thi Nguyen, Karen D. Könings, Albert J. J. A. Scherpbier and Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer

Job satisfaction and its associated factors among opticians in Ghana: a cross-sectional study

Job satisfaction refers to the feeling of contentment one experiences with their job. Job satisfaction among opticians is a crucial variable in determining their motivation and has consequential influence on t...

Authors: Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo, Akosua Kesewah Asare, Elsie Emelia Yelbert, Emmanuel Kobia-Acquah, Emmanuel Kofi Addo, Eldad Agyei-Manu, Thomas Brusah and Prince Antwi Asenso

Retention of healthcare workers 1 year after recruitment and deployment in rural settings: an experience post-Ebola in five health districts in Guinea

Guinea undertook health workforce reform in 2016 following the Ebola outbreak to overcome decades-long shortages and maldistribution of healthcare workers (HCWs). Specifically, over 5000 HCWs were recruited an...

Authors: Delphin Kolie, Remco Van De Pas, Alexandre Delamou, Nafissatou Dioubaté, Foromo Timothée Beavogui, Patrice Bouedouno, Abdoul Habib Beavogui, Abdoulaye Kaba, Willem Van De Put and Wim Van Damme

Interprofessional education-relevant accreditation standards in Canada: a comparative document analysis

Increasing evidence suggests that sustainable delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) has the potential to lead to interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP), which in turn has the potential to lead...

Authors: Mohammad Azzam, Anton Puvirajah, Marie-Andrée Girard and Ruby E. Grymonpre

Narrowing but persisting gender pay gap among employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services during 2010–2018

The gender pay gap in the United States (US) has narrowed over the last several decades, with the female/male earnings ratio in the US increased from about 60% before the 1980s to about 79% by 2014. However, t...

Authors: Zhuo Chen, Yihong Zhang, Huabin Luo, Donglan Zhang, Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, Yuheng Wang, Ruoxi Wang and Grace Bagwell-Adams

Barriers and facilitators to online medical and nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives from international students from low- and middle-income countries and their teaching staff

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a huge challenge to the education systems worldwide, forcing many countries to provisionally close educational institutions and deliver courses fully online. The aim of this study w...

Authors: Wen Li, Robyn Gillies, Mingyu He, Changhao Wu, Shenjun Liu, Zheng Gong and Hong Sun

Migrant physicians’ choice of employment and the medical specialty general practice: a mixed-methods study

In many countries, migrant physicians (MP) tend to fill staff shortages in medical specialties perceived as low status. The aim of this study was to explore aspects that influence MPs’, with a medical degree f...

Authors: Linda Sturesson, Per J. Palmgren, Magnus Öhlander, Gunnar H. Nilsson and Terese Stenfors

Diversifying the health workforce: a mixed methods analysis of an employment integration strategy

Historically, immigration has been a significant population driver in Canada. In October 2020, immigration targets were raised to an unprecedented level to support economic recovery in response to COVID-19. In...

Authors: Andrea Baumann, Mary Crea-Arsenio, Dana Ross and Jennifer Blythe

Conceptual framework for task shifting and task sharing: an international Delphi study

Task shifting and sharing (TS/S) involves the redistribution of health tasks within workforces and communities. Conceptual frameworks lay out the key factors, constructs, and variables involved in a given phen...

Authors: Aaron M. Orkin, Sampreeth Rao, Jeyasakthi Venugopal, Natasha Kithulegoda, Pete Wegier, Stephen D. Ritchie, David VanderBurgh, Alexandra Martiniuk, Fabio Salamanca-Buentello and Ross Upshur

Characterization and distribution of medicine vendors in 2 states in Nigeria: implications for scaling health workforce and family planning services

In 2014, Nigeria issued the task-shifting/sharing policy for essential health services, which aimed to fill the human resource gap and improve the delivery of health services across the country. This study foc...

Authors: Babajide Oluseyi Daini, Emeka Okafor, Sikiru Baruwa, Oluwafunmito Adeyanju, Rodio Diallo and Jennifer Anyanti

Uganda’s response to sexual harassment in the public health sector: from “Dying Silently” to gender-transformational HRH policy

Sexual harassment is a ubiquitous problem that prevents women’s integration and retention in the workforce. Its prevalence had been documented in previous health sector studies in Uganda, indicating that it af...

Authors: Constance Newman, Alice Nayebare, Stella Neema, Allan Agaba and Lilian Perry Akello

Shaping applied epidemiology workforce training to strengthen emergency response: a global survey of applied epidemiologists, 2019–2020

Rapid and effective emergency response to address health security relies on a competent and suitably trained local and international workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that the health security wo...

Authors: Amy Elizabeth Parry, Martyn D. Kirk, David N. Durrheim, Babatunde Olowokure, Samantha M. Colquhoun and Tambri Housen

Job satisfaction of general practitioners: a cross-sectional survey in 34 countries

Job satisfaction of general practitioners (GPs) is important because of the consequences of low satisfaction for GPs, their patients and the health system, such as higher turnover, health problems for the phys...

Authors: Emiel J. Stobbe, Peter P. Groenewegen and Willemijn Schäfer

Assessment of training and mentoring for DR-TB care decentralization in Tanzania

Drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) care shifted from centralized to decentralized care in Tanzania in 2015. This study explored whether DR-TB training and mentoring supported healthcare workers’ (HCWs) DR-TB care perfo...

Authors: Dennis Lyakurwa, Johnson Lyimo, Christiaan Mulder, Puck T. Pelzer, Inge Koppelaar and Marleen Heus

A needs-based methodology to project physicians and nurses to 2030: the case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as part of its 2030 National Transformation Program, set a goal of transforming the healthcare sector to increase access to, and improve the quality and efficiency of, health...

Authors: Samantha Gailey, Tim A. Bruckner, Tracy Kuo Lin, Jenny X. Liu, Mohammed Alluhidan, Taghred Alghaith, Hussah Alghodaier, Nabiha Tashkandi, Christopher H. Herbst, Mariam M. Hamza and Nahar Alazemi

How can human resources for health interventions contribute to sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn healthcare quality across the continuum in low- and lower-middle-income countries? A systematic review

Well-trained, competent, and motivated human resources for health (HRH) are crucial to delivering quality service provision across the sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health (SRMNH) care continuum ...

Authors: Melese Girmaye Negero, David Sibbritt and Angela Dawson

Increasing nursing student interest in rural healthcare: lessons from a rural rotation program in Democratic Republic of the Congo

Many challenges exist in providing equitable access to rural healthcare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). WHO recommends student exposure to rural clinical rotations to promote interest in rural h...

Authors: Susan Michaels-Strasser, Paul W. Thurman, Narcisse Mwinkeu Kasongo, Daniel Kapenda, John Ngulefac, Beatrice Lukeni, Serge Matumaini, Lauren Parmley, Rebekah Hughes and Faustin Malele

Interprofessional collaboration and barriers among health and social workers caring for older adults: a Philippine case study

There is limited information on how the barriers to interprofessional collaboration (IPC) across various professionals, organizations, and care facilities influence the health and welfare of older adults. This...

Authors: TJ Robinson T. Moncatar, Keiko Nakamura, Kathryn Lizbeth L. Siongco, Kaoruko Seino, Rebecca Carlson, Carmelita C. Canila, Richard S. Javier and Fely Marilyn E. Lorenzo

Professional integration of immigrant medical professionals through alternative career pathways: an Internet scan to synthesize the current landscape

There is a growing recognition that underutilization and underemployment of skilled immigrants, especially internationally trained health professionals, creates a financial burden on individuals and economic l...

Authors: Tanvir C. Turin, Nashit Chowdhury, Mark Ekpekurede, Deidre Lake, Mohammad Ali Ashraf Lasker, Mary O’Brien and Suzanne Goopy

Harnessing the digital potential of the next generation of health professionals

Digital technologies are rapidly being integrated into a wide range of health fields. This new domain, often termed ‘digital health’, has the potential to significantly improve healthcare outcomes and global h...

Authors: Brian L. H. Wong, Mark P. Khurana, Robert D. Smith, Omnia El-Omrani, Ave Pold, Amine Lotfi, Charlotte A. O’Leary and Diah S. Saminarsih

Projections of psychiatrists’ distribution for patients in Japan: a utilization-based approach

Depopulation accompanied by population aging is a major public health concern in Japan. Although adequate allocation of mental healthcare resources is needed, there have been few studies on the impact of popul...

Authors: Norio Sugawara, Norio Yasui-Furukori and Kazutaka Shimoda

Implementing care coordination in a large dental care organization in the United States by upskilling front office personnel

Care coordination is a key strategy used to improve health outcomes and efficiency, yet there are limited examples in dentistry. A large dental accountable care organization piloted care coordination by retrai...

Authors: Aubri M. Kottek, Kristin S. Hoeft, Joel M. White, Kristen Simmons and Elizabeth A. Mertz

Competitive employer positioning through career path analysis: the case of the Swiss nursing sector

The global shortage of nurses has caused strategic employer positioning and strengthened employer branding to become progressively relevant addressing the increased competition in the recruitment of nurses. Th...

Authors: Remo Aeschbacher and Véronique Addor

Burnout and depression among psychiatry residents during COVID-19 pandemic

Very few studies have been concerned with assessing the prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms, especially during an infectious outbreak on non-frontline health care workers, such as a psychiatrist. In ...

Authors: Abdulmajeed A. Alkhamees, Hatem Assiri, Hatim Yousef Alharbi, Abdullah Nasser and Mohammad A. Alkhamees

Does engagement with frontline health workers improve maternal and child healthcare utilisation and outcomes in India?

Poor Maternal and Child Health (MCH) outcomes pose challenges to India’s ability to attain Goal-3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The government of India strengthened the existing network of front...

Authors: Anu Rammohan, Srinivas Goli, Shashi Kala Saroj and C. P. Abdul Jaleel

Correction to: System dynamics modelling of health workforce planning to address future challenges of Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Borwornsom Leerapan, Pard Teekasap, Nipaporn Urwannachotima, Wararat Jaichuen, Kwanpracha Chiangchaisakulthai, Khunjira Udomaksorn, Aronrag Meeyai, Thinakorn Noree and Krisada Sawaengdee

The cost of health workforce gaps and inequitable distribution in the Ghana Health Service: an analysis towards evidence-based health workforce planning and management

Despite tremendous health workforce efforts which have resulted in increases in the density of physicians, nurses and midwives from 1.07 per 1000 population in 2005 to 2.65 per 1000 population in 2017, Ghana c...

Authors: James Avoka Asamani, Hamza Ismaila, Anna Plange, Victor Francis Ekey, Abdul-Majeed Ahmed, Margaret Chebere, John Koku Awoonor-Williams and Juliet Nabyonga-Orem

Stakeholder attitudes to the regulation of traditional and complementary medicine professions: a systematic review

There has been a considerable increase in the number of traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) practitioners over the past 20 years and in some jurisdictions are estimated to outnumber general practitio...

Authors: Jenny Carè, Amie Steel and Jon Wardle

‘She taught me’: factors consumers find important in nurse practitioner and pharmacist prescriber services

Advanced practitioner services, such as those nurse practitioners and pharmacist prescribers provide, are an opportunity to improve health care delivery. In New Zealand, these practitioners remain underutilise...

Authors: Tara N. Officer, Jackie Cumming and Karen McBride-Henry

Hiding in plain sight: the absence of consideration of the gendered dimensions in ‘source’ country perspectives on health worker migration

Gender roles and relations affect both the drivers and experiences of health worker migration, yet policy responses rarely consider these gender dimensions. This lack of explicit attention from source country ...

Authors: Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Vivien Runnels, Jelena Atanackovic, Denise Spitzer and Margaret Walton-Roberts

Size, composition and distribution of health workforce in India: why, and where to invest?

Investment in human resources for health not only strengthens the health system, but also generates employment and contributes to economic growth. India can gain from enhanced investment in health workforce in...

Authors: Anup Karan, Himanshu Negandhi, Suhaib Hussain, Tomas Zapata, Dilip Mairembam, Hilde De Graeve, James Buchan and Sanjay Zodpey

Correction to: Optimizing the contributions of nursing and midwifery workforces: #Protect, #Invest, #Together

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: James Buchan, James Campbell and Carey McCarthy

Evaluating a capacity building program on women’s health for displaced community health workers in fragile settings in Lebanon

Displaced populations in fragile settings experience health disparities that are seldom attended to. Task-shifting, which involves training non-specialized community health workers (CHW) to deliver basic educa...

Authors: Hady Naal, Rebecca Mendelsohn, Dayana Brome, Aya Noubani, Dana Nabulsi, Dina Muhieddine and Shadi Saleh

Prevalence of caregiving and high caregiving strain among late-career medical school faculty members: workforce, policy, and faculty development implications

Nearly one-third of medical school faculty members are age 55 + . As our population ages, the prevalence of family caregiving is increasing, yet we know very little about the caregiving experiences of aging fa...

Authors: Kimberly A. Skarupski, David L. Roth and Samuel C. Durso

Factors supporting retention of health and wellbeing staff in Aboriginal health services: a strength-based case study

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services are fundamental to improving the health and welfare of Aboriginal peoples. A key element that contributes to the effectiveness of these services are Aboriginal h...

Authors: Sara Deroy and Heike Schütze

The changing demographics of the orthotist/prosthetist workforce in Australia: 2007, 2012 and 2019

Previous Australian workforce analyses revealed a small orthotist/prosthetist workforce with a low number of practitioners per 100,000 Australians. In recent years, initiatives were implemented to increase rel...

Authors: Emily Ridgewell, Leigh Clarke, Sarah Anderson and Michael P. Dillon

Evaluating medical education regulation changes in Brazil: workforce impact

Shortages and inequitable distribution of physicians is an obstacle to move towards Universal Health Coverage, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. In Brazil, expansion of medical school enrol...

Authors: Alexandre Medeiros Figueiredo, Danette Waller McKinley, Adriano Massuda and George Dantas Azevedo

Visualizing the drivers of an effective health workforce: a detailed, interactive logic model

A strong health workforce is a key building block of a well-functioning health system. To achieve health systems goals, policymakers need information on what works to improve and sustain health workforce perfo...

Authors: Serena Sonderegger, Sara Bennett, Veena Sriram, Ummekulsoom Lalani, Shreya Hariyani and Timothy Roberton

System dynamics modelling of health workforce planning to address future challenges of Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage

System dynamics (SD) modelling can inform policy decisions under Thailand's Universal Health Coverage. We report on this thinking approach to Thailand's strategic health workforce planning for the next 20 year...

Authors: Borwornsom Leerapan, Pard Teekasap, Nipaporn Urwannachotima, Wararat Jaichuen, Kwanpracha Chiangchaisakulthai, Khunjira Udomaksorn, Aronrag Meeyai, Thinakorn Noree and Krisada Sawaengdee

Training in communication skills for self-efficacy of health professionals: a systematic review

Communication skills are essential for health professionals to establish a positive relationship with their patients, improving their health and quality of life. In this perspective, communication skills train...

Authors: Ádala Nayana de Sousa Mata, Kesley Pablo Morais de Azevedo, Liliane Pereira Braga, Gidyenne Christine Bandeira Silva de Medeiros, Victor Hugo de Oliveira Segundo, Isaac Newton Machado Bezerra, Isac Davidson Santiago Fernandes Pimenta, Ismael Martinez Nicolás and Grasiela Piuvezam

COVID-19 and doctor emigration: the case of Ireland

Since the 2008 recession, Ireland has experienced large-scale doctor emigration. This paper seeks to ascertain whether (and how) the COVID-19 pandemic might disrupt or reinforce existing patterns of doctor emi...

Authors: Niamh Humphries, Jennifer Creese, John-Paul Byrne and John Connell

Task-shifting to improve asthma education for Malawian children: a qualitative analysis

Asthma education, a key component of long-term asthma management, is challenging in resource-limited settings with shortages of clinical staff. Task-shifting educational roles to lay (non-clinical) staff is a ...

Authors: Lovemore Nkhalamba, Sarah Rylance, Adamson S. Muula, Kevin Mortimer and Felix Limbani

Reflecting on the current scenario and forecasting the future demand for medical doctors in South Africa up to 2030: towards equal representation of women

Increasing feminization of medical professions is well-acknowledged. However, this does not always equate to equitable representation of women within medicine, regarding their socio-demographic indicators, reg...

Authors: Ritika Tiwari, Angelique Wildschut-February, Lungiswa Nkonki, René English, Innocent Karangwa and Usuf Chikte

Optimizing the contributions of nursing and midwifery workforces: #Protect, #Invest, #Together

Authors: James Buchan, James Campbell and Carey McCarthy

Interprofessional collaboration among health professionals in cleft lip and palate treatment and care in the public health sector of South Africa

Collaboration among different categories of health professionals is essential for quality patient care, especially for individuals with cleft lip and palate (CLP). This study examined interprofessional collabo...

Authors: Phumzile Hlongwa and Laetitia C. Rispel

Outcomes, mechanisms and contextual factors of positive psychology interventions for health workers: a systematic review of global evidence

Interventions using positive psychology (PP), which build on positive qualities of healthcare personnel and institutions, could potentially enhance organisational performance in healthcare. The aim of this sys...

Authors: Maartje Kletter, Bronwyn Harris and Celia Brown

Current status and related factors of turnover intention of primary medical staff in Anhui Province, China: a cross-sectional study

The shortage of primary medical staff is an important issue in the management of health human resources, and it is also a problem that all countries in the world need to face together. Since 2009, China has im...

Authors: Guimei Chen, Lingzhi Sang, Jian Rong, Huosheng Yan, Hongzhang Liu, Jing Cheng, Li Wang, Hong Ding and Ren Chen

An analysis of the services provided by community health workers within an urban district in South Africa: a key contribution towards universal access to care

Community health worker teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage...

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

Predictive factors of the general public’s willingness to be seen and seek treatment from a nurse practitioner in Australia: a cross-sectional national survey

Health care delivery in Australia is experiencing challenges with services struggling to keep up with the increasing demands of an aging population, rising levels of chronic disease and limited funding for car...

Authors: Trudy Dwyer, Alison Craswell and Matthew Browne

Trend and equity of general practitioners’ allocation in China based on the data from 2012–2017

General practitioners are the gatekeepers of the health of the residents. This study aims to evaluate the trend and equity of general practitioners' allocation from 2012 to 2017 in China and provide a reference f...

Authors: Qianqian Yu, Wenqiang Yin, Dongmei Huang, Kui Sun, Zhongming Chen, Hongwei Guo and Di Wu