Thailand

This paper reviews the situation and trend in human resources for health and its priority problems in Thailand. It also highlights the issue of the inequitable distribution of doctors. Through several brainstorming sessions among stakeholders, it summarizes a package of recommendations for the future continuous and sustainable knowledge-based human resources for health development. [from abstract]

This study is intended to compare the dental health personnal supply to the requirement in each 5-year interval from 1995 to 2015. The results show that there will be 10,100 dentists and 7,718 dental nurses in supply in the year 2015. The personnel requirement was calculated using 3 different techniques. The results show that in the year 2015, the supply of dentists exceeds the requirement regardless of what technique is used. [from abstract]

This paper analyzes the present situation of general practitioners in the Thai health care system and the conditions under which their contribution could be strengthened. [from abstract]

This research study is a situational analysis and investigation to propose alternative models, including estimation of the quantitative demand for Mobile Emergency Medical Service Units (MEMUs) and the demand for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in Thailand during the next two decades. Three models of the MEMUs, and three categories of EMTs are proposed. In producing all kind of EMTs, their career development and continuing education should be planned. [from abstract]

This study explores the details of the process leading to the equivalence determination of qualifications and degrees for the education and training of the health professions in Thailand. [from abstract]

This study aims at forecasting future scenarios of each subsector of the pharmacy services and projection of supply of and requirement for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Thailand for the next two decades. [from introduction]

Most human resources for health in developing countries are produced by highly subsidized public institutes. Due to inequity in basic education most health science students are from wealthier urban families. They tend to remain in urban areas after graduation, creating inequitable distribution of health personnel. At the same time the public education institutes are subject to strong bureaucratic inefficiency and usually no systematic quality control system. This paper analyses this situation in Thailand. [adapted from abstract]

Chapter 2, section A discusses the distribution of HRH in Thailand as well as providing recommendations to address the unequal distribution of health personnel between Bangkok and other regions with respect to providing equal access to health services. [adapted from author]

It is desirable to encourage developing countries to seek complementary roles from the private sector. By focusing on Thailand, the appropriate role of the public sector, the private sector and privatization can be described in broad terms. The role of privatization within the public sector is also important, including the use of private incentives by public providers and governmental organizations in addition to the role of independent private entities. [author’s description]

Human Resource Development (HRD)is a very important yet very difficult component for effective health care delivery, especially in the public sector. Bureaucratic barriers, discontinuity, ineffective leadership, and lack of systematic approaches are major reasons for failures. A package of HRD strategies were introduced into Yasothon Hospital. This paper describes the detail of the implementation and evaluation of the results. [from abstract]

This paper analyses in detail the changing international health paradigms and the situations that challenge international mechanisms existing globally and in Thailand. Human resources development on international health and negotiation skills constitute the core responses. The initial success of the recent development in Thailand is also reviewed. Finally, the conceptual framework, possible strategies and priority activities are proposed to be carried out for future international health development. [from abstract]

This article discusses the last 20 years of HRH planning in Thailand, highlights failings of these systematic approaches and makes recommendations on more appropriate strategies for meeting HRH planning needs.

Maldistribution of human resources for health is a worldwide phenomenon and may appear in different dimensions. The first and greatest concern is the inequitable distribution, particularly of high level professionals like doctors, both among countries in the world and within each country. [author’s description]

This paper aims to summarize strategies to solve inequitable distribution of human resources for health (HRH) between urban and rural areas, by using four decades of experience in Thailand as a case study for analysis. [from abstract]

This study aims at analysing the impact of international service trade on the health care system, particularly in terms of human resources for health (HRH), using Thailand as a case study. [from abstract]

In Thailand, family practice was developed primarily through a small number of self-styled family practitioners, who were dedicated to this professional field without having benefited from formal training in the specific techniques of family practice. In the context of a predominantly hospital-based health care system, much depends on their personal motivation and commitment to this area of medicine. The purpose of this paper is to compare the responsiveness, degree of patient-centredness, adequacy of therapeutic decisions and the cost of care in 37 such self-styled family practices, i.e. practices run by doctors who call themselves family practitioners, but have not been formally trained, and in 37 conventional public hospital outpatient departments (OPDs), 37 private clinics and 37 private hospital OPDs.

This paper provides detailed information on manpower in private hospitals in Thailand. Results were drawn from the 1990-1992 private hospital census.

Imbalance in the cadre mix, number, distribution, and quality of health personnel are major concerns for health planners and policy makers. Many methods were developed and used to project future supply and requirement for health personnel. This paper modified the population-to-physician ratio method, by taking into account the specific characteristics of the Thai health care system, and of the future economic scenarios to project requirements of Thai physicians over the next twenty-five years. [from abstract]

This draft strategic plan discusses the current situation and trends, including shortages and the lack of coordination between HRH planning and production, and discusses the vision, mission and framework for adressing the health workforce issues in Thailand.

The Ministry of Public Health has implemented increasingly complex payment schemes to cope with the internal brain drain situation among certain categories of health personnel. Non-private-practice allowances have been given to medical doctors, dentists and pharmacists since 1993 and a fee-for-service scheme for extra office hour practices started since 1994. This research is to evaluate the impact of the fee-for-service payment on productivity and quality of care and to consider any resultant moral hazards amongs health providers. [from abstract]

Using Thailand as a case study, this paper aims to explore the potential implications of integrated health system intervention. Within the Thai context, it is argued in this paper that autonomy of a network of public providers, rather than autonomy of individual hospitals, should be encouraged if management of health manpower is to be optimized. [from abstract]

While health is a dynamic intervention system, HMD is based on isolated and static disciplines and professions. The production of health personnal is controlled by a very strong conservative force of professionalism and institutionalism. For HMD be knowledge-based research is needed on education for health personnel and how HMD can be integrated with health system development. [adapted from author]

A seven-point framework was used to analyze retention strategies in four countries: Uganda, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Thailand. This framework draws upon available country data and includes GDP and investment in health, mix of private/public investment, international migration, health policy frameworks, countrywide strategies, provincial/regional strategies, and professional associations/regulatory bodies. Comparison of the countries demonstrated that progress has been made in nurse retention. [from executive summary]

This paper aims at promoting discussion on the role of the public and private sectors in university education. Privatisation direction circumscribed by civil service reform and structural adjustment in several countries prompts researchers and policy makers to look seriously into how to improve efficiency and quality of manpower production while trying to achieve social equity. To what extent the private sector has a role to play in financing and producing manpower and how the governments should react in the transition period is discussed. Special emphasis is made for health manpower issues. [

There is currently a scarcity of research on the nature of HIV/AIDS stigma within the Thai health context. This is problematic given the negative role of stigma in hindering the provision of patient care and treatment. This study used a mixed-method approach to investigate the interrelationships between the stigma of HIV/AIDS and the stigmas relating to its various modes of disease transmission including injection drug use. [from abstract]

Studies dating from 1993 show shortages of nursing personnel in Thailand, with many professional nursing positions in government institutions going unfilled. Attrition is high, with many nurses leaving public service because of low pay, poor working conditions, and little opportunity for advancement. To estimate the requirement and supply of professional nurses, and propose solutions to the problem of shortages of professional nurses, a study was conducted between October 1995 and June 1996.

This paper projects the future supply of physicians in Thailand by using both the cohort analysis and the annual loss rate method. [from abstract]

This paper projects the supply of dentists in Thailand for the next 30 years, using the proposed first year enrollment plans of students, in order to compare future supply with the projected requirements. [from abstract]

This study applied the method of system dynamics modeling in estimation of man power need in dental public health from 1995 to 2015. The base line information derived from the National Oral Health Survey in 1984, 1989 and 1994. The study indicate the possibility of oversupply of dental personnel in the future and the need for adjustment of the roles of dentist and dental nurse. [from abstract]

The success of primary health care programmes in Thailand over the past three decades can be attributed not only to medical advances but to the role of community health volunteers. Buddhist monks and their temples have been strongly involved in health promotion and education, particularly in remote, rural communities. [from introduction]