Nurses

When GHARP set out to recruit new service providers [for preventing mother-to-child transmission], it faced a dilemma. Due to the limited supply of health workers in Guyana, the project needed to avoid recruiting health care providers already working for the MOH. Hiring existing health workers away from their jobs would simple reshuffle the distribution of health workers, rather than add new ones. To address the problem, GHARP staff decided to recruit retired nurses to fill the positions. [from author's description]

This presentation was part of the International Conference on Global Health session, "Answering the Call: Innovations in Human Resources by African Faith-Based Organizations." From the perspective of the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau experience, the presentation discusses why the private not-for-profit sector is important in service provision and training; why nurses are in the midst of the human resource crisis; obastacles to increasing the training capacity; and what the PNFP health training institutions are doing to address their weaknesses. [adapted from author]

South Africa has a serious shortage of human and financial resources to provide primary healthcare services especially in the historically under-served areas. It is a tedious task to carry out healthcare delivery for the masses without rationalizing human resources in the form of re-allocation and re-deployment of healthcare personnel. This study aimed to establish the level of adequacy and efficiency of nursing staff in the former Transkei region. The study was carried out in the child and family welfare clinic of the Umtata General Hospital. [from abstract]

This paper examines the employment preferences of public sector registered nurses working in Malawi and identifies the range and relative importance of the factors that affect their motivation. The research was designed in the light of the Malawi government’s programme to address the shortage of health workers, which is based on salary top-ups as a means of increasing employee motivation and reducing high rates of attrition. This policy has been adopted despite relatively little quantitative exploration into the employment preferences of health workers in developing countries. This study aims to provide a clearer picture of the preferences of registered nurses about different aspects of their employment, and the factors that might persuade them to continue in the profession within their home country.

Human resources in health care system in sub-Saharan Africa are generally picturing a lack of adequacy between expected skills from the professionals and health care needs expressed by the populations. It is, however, possible to analyse these various lacks of adequacy related to human resource management and their determinants to enhance the effectiveness of the health care system. From two projects focused on nurse professionals within the health care system in Central Africa, we present an analytic grid for adequacy levels. [from abstract]

The RCN commissioned a survey of 6,000 members in 2000 to explore nurses� wellbeing and working lives. The results subsequently helped shape RCN policy and materials for members on topics such as bullying and harassment, violence, needlestick injury and employee-friendly working practices. Five years later, the RCN has commissioned a second survey looking at a similar range of issues. This report documents the findings of that survey, and describes differences between the 2000 and 2005 survey findings. [introduction]

Mental health care is an essential but often forgotten component of health care. Nurses are core health-care providers and they need to be able to contribute effectively to mental health care. [This document] presents results of a global survey on the availability, education, training and role of nurses in mental health care. [from foreword]

This study examines the attitudes of nursing students toward caring for HIV/AIDS patients and their knowledge and perceptions about the disease. Findings revealed a very positive outlook of the nursing students in regards to caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Although most of them expressed their willingness to take any job offer concerning caring for HIV/AIDS patients, 34.3% apprehended resistance from their family members in this regard. However, they also considered that it would be possible for them to overcome the resistance. Although 100% of the students had heard of HIV/AIDS, a number of them had misconceptions about various aspects of the disease.

This paper focuses on the scheme by the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) to retain nurse tutors in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). It chronicles the scheme's successful elements for purposes of eventual replication, suggests how to address some of the challenges and identifies effective incentives, including salary supplements. [from executive summary]

The NSW Department of Health is responsible for managing nurse supply. It needs to identify the extent and nature of shortages and develop ways to attract, retain and best manage nurses working in public hospitals. This audit looks at how nurses are managed in four of our public hospitals and examines how the Department has responded to expected nurse shortages. It also highlights actions that have helped reduce the number of nurses leaving hospitals. [from foreword]

This data creates a profile of the nursing workforce, which is useful for projecting trends and estimating future requirements. At the corporate level, longitudinal examination over a series of years would demonstrate the relationship between the characteristics of the nursing workforce and the overall requirements for patient care. At the unit level, the data is helpful to examine human resource needs and fluctuations in the workforce characteristics. A human resource profile has many data elements and results from the input of a variety of sources and requires high standards of data entry and management.

Understanding the supply and utilization of nurses is critical to maintaining an effective community health system. There has to be sufficient staff and a work environment that builds on the existing strengths of community health nursing to meet emerging needs. This report provides a demographic profile of community health nurses (CHNs) in Ontario and identifies enablers that support optimal practice of their competencies. [from executive summary]

In order to help improve Royal College of Nursing understanding of the employment experiences of internationally recruited nurses and UK trained black and minority ethnic (BME) nurses, the RCN commissioned a secondary analysis to draw together commentary and analysis from previous surveys.

The issues surrounding nursing shortages and global nurse migration are inextricably linked. The shortage of practicing nurses worldwide has led to aggressive recruiting by healthcare employers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Foreign-educated healthcare professionals represent more than a quarter of the medical and nursing workforces of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. [author's description]

This report marks the culmination of the Nursing Sector Study. The five year study consisted of two phases, and examined the nursing workforce for all three regulated nursing professions in Canada. Phase I, which concluded in December 2004, examined the state of nursing human resources in Canada. The objective of Phase II was to develop a pan-Canadian nursing human resource (HR) strategy in consultation with government and non-government stakeholders that built on the findings and recommendations presented at the completion of Phase I. [from executive summary]

The shortage of trained health professionals is among the main obstacles to strengthening low-income countries health systems and to scaling up HIV/AIDS control efforts. Traditional health practitioners are increasingly depicted as key resources to HIV/AIDS prevention and care. An appropriate and effective response to the HIV/AIDS crisis requires reconsideration of the collaboration between traditional and biomedical health providers (THPs and BHPs). The aim of this paper is to explore biomedical and traditional health practitioners experiences of and attitudes towards collaboration and to identify obstacles and potential opportunities for them to collaborate regarding care for patients with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. [author's description]

Capacity management systems create insight into required resources like staff and equipment. For inpatient hospital care, capacity management requires information on beds and nursing staff capacity, on a daily as well as annual basis. This paper presents a comprehensive capacity model that gives insight into required nursing staff capacity and opportunities to improve capacity utilization on a ward level. [from abstract]

This document highlights the potential advantages and perils of career moves and migration for nurses, describes some of the main nurse migration trends and establishes a list of critical questions as an ethical framework for nurse recruitment. [adapted from author]

The aims of this study are: to examine to what extent critical care and advanced practice nurses�participation in an online listserv constituted a community of practice, and to explore how the nurses use electronic media to communicate with one another. Findings suggest that the online listserv environment, as a whole, did function as an online community of practice, where participation not only served as an avenue for knowledge sharing situated in the actual context of the nurses� everyday work experience, but also helped to reinforce identity of the nursing practice itself. [from abstrac

In this discussion document, the Department of Health and Children identifies key development issues facing nursing and midwifery in the future. This is in order to establish a strong platform for the formulation of a strategic response to these issues. The document contains an insightful analysis of the challenges ahead and identifies a range of possible responses. [from preface]

This issue of the HST Update contains articles on: overview of nursing in South Africa, transforming nursing education towards primary health care, problems in nursing today, nursing summit charters a way forward, placement of nurses, nurse training in Mount Frere health district, and the quest for rational drug use.

This leaflet has been designed as an introduction to clinical supervision. It aims to stimulate ideas and to encourage occupational health nurses to set up supervision practice in their workplaces. Clinical supervision isn�t a management tool, but can be used as a support and prompt to professional practice in a creative way. [from introduction]

This paper discusses a collaborative effort between two universities in Sri Lanka and Canada to create a distance education program to train nurses in Sri Lanka.

This best practice guideline focuses on nursing teams and processes that foster healthy work environments. The focus for the development of this guideline was collaborative practice among nursing teams with the view that this may be a first stage in a multi-staged process that could eventually result in interprofessional guidelines. A healthy work environment for nurses is a practice setting that maximizes the health and well being of nurses, quality patient outcomes and organizational performance. Effective nursing teamwork is essential to the work in health care organizations. [from purpose]

It is envisaged that these common competencies will support the role of nurses within the region, provide direction for recognition of qualifications and for multi-country licensure programs and guidance for those countries that have not yet developed their specific competencies for nurses. This document details background information, the competency development process, the proposed WPSEAR Common Competencies, suggestions for their application and a glossary of terms. [author's description]

This presentation presents some of the issues concerning the effect of HIV/AIDS on the nursing and midwifery professions in the Commonwealth countries of east, central and southern Africa.
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The community approach to improving public health has been produced for community nurses who want an insight into community development practice used in nursing. The publication provides a framework and resources for nurses to use as a tool to begin to develop their own local initiatives. [from introduction]

The objectives of the study were to identify exemplary medical and nurse practitioners in primary health care, to document their practices and perceptions with regard to their community involvement, to analyse the common themes arising from the findings, and to present recommendations based on the findings. The lack of a clearly defined role in the community outside of the clinical role that deals with the individual patient who presents for care is discussed in relation to the policy of the primary health care approach. The concept of community-oriented primary care provides a framework for a more systematic approach to community engagement, and this study serves as a basis for further research into the subject.

This study provides initial information about current nursing issues that have arisen as a result of health care reform initiatives. Regardless of differences in service models or phases of health sector reform implementation, in all the countries the participating nurses identified many common themes, trends, and changes in nursing practice. The driving forces for change and their intensity have been different in the five countries. Nurses maintain their core values despite increased work stress and greater patient care needs in all the countries as well as economic crises in the Latin American countries.

Credentialing is a means of assuring quality and protecting the public by confirming that individuals, programmes, institutions or products meet agreed standards. Credentialing is becoming increasingly important as health systems strive to address issues of public safety and quality services. [author's description]