Human Resources Management

This study intends to provide an update of the status of the human resources for health (HRH) subsystem in six countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay. The study’s discussion centers around five questions: how the health workforce is financed, how it is organized, how it is managed, how it is regulated, and how it performs. Further, the study strives to understand what role, if any, performance management policies and incentives play in these countries’ HRH subsystems.

Ineffective district health management potentially impacts on health system performance and service delivery. However, little is known about district health managing practices and time allocation in resource-constrained health systems. Therefore, a time use study was conducted in order to understand current time use practices of district health managers in Ghana. [from abstract]

The objective of this guidance is to issue evidence-based recommendations to facilitate universal access to key, effective maternal and newborn interventions through the optimization of health worker roles. These recommendations are intended for health policy-makers, managers and other stakeholders at a regional, national and international level. [from introduction]

The purpose of this guide is to assist the Appraising Officer (Supervisor) and the Appraisee in the effective implementation of the PAS in the Civil Service and Local Authorities. [from introduction]

This study sought to assess the staff requirements, work load and performance with respect to the CH work force
using workload indicator of staffing need (WISN) tool. The ultimate objective was to provide information to guide the organization, management and development of the work force. [from abstract]

This article proposes a performance appraisal based on competency models of leadership for a larger professional group working across several different organizations, yet in similar professional and institutional environments. The empirical data in this article are based on two surveys that were conducted in 15 Slovenian public hospitals. [from abstract]

Burnout can create problems in every aspect of individual’s’ human life. It may have an adverse effect on interpersonal and family relations and can lead to a general negative attitude towards life. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether burnout is associated with the mental health status of health care providers. [from abstract]

The goal of this paper is to identify the frequency and intensity of the perception of adverse professional consequences and their association with burnout syndrome and occupational variables. [from abstract]

How can the world improve the health systems in low- and middle-income countries to effectively manage future outbreaks? Recently, the Royal College of Physicians launched a new partnership with the West African College of Physicians to curtail the effects of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the region. We believe that strengthened health systems, skilled human resources for health and national ownership of problems are key to effective management of outbreaks such as Ebola Virus Disease. [from abstract]

Trending in Nigeria is the conventional view that medical practitioners should look after patients, while administrators look after organizations. Yet several pioneering healthcare institutions have turned this assumption on its head and achieved outstanding performance in the UK and in central Europe. This can be replicated in Nigeria through the adoption of clinical leadership practices and the restructuring of the healthcare system in Nigeria, which has been characterized by strike actions from medical
practioners. [from abstract]

Current indicators used to measure efforts and progress in HRH are limited and often unreliable. These limitations constrain country, donor, and program efforts to identify and address gaps in HRH and to track progress over time. CapacityPlus developed the HRH Effort Index to enable countries, program implementers, and donors to more readily assess and measure national HRH inputs and potentially to predict workforce performance, service use, and quality. [from abstract]

Most African countries are facing a human resources for health (HRH) crisis, lacking the required workforce to deliver basic health care, including care for mothers and children. To address the HRH challenges, evidence-based deployment and training policies are required. However, the resources available to country-level policy makers to create such
policies are limited. To inform future HRH planning, a scoping review was conducted to identify the type, extent, and quality of evidence that exists on HRH policies for rural MNCH in Africa. [from abstract]

Since the early 2000s, there have been large increases in donor financing of human resources for health (HRH), yet few studies have examined their effects on health systems. The objective of this paper is to determine the scope and impact of investments in HRH by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the largest investor in HRH outside national governments. [adapted from abstract]

Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as an integral component of the health workforce needed to achieve public health goals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many factors influence CHW performance. A systematic review was conducted to identify intervention design related factors influencing performance of CHWs. [from abstract]

A series of team-building activities were conducted on a medical-surgical unit and their impact on staff’s communication and job satisfaction was examined. Forty-four unit personnel participated in the interventions. Staff communication and job satisfaction were measured before and after the intervention. The findings linked team-building activities with improved staff communication and job satisfaction. [from abstract]

The objective of this research was to analyze the organizational culture of a Brazilian public hospital. It is a descriptive study with quantitative approach of data, developed in a public hospital of São Paulo State, Brazil. [from abstract]

This chapter gives an account of one relatively modest but effective intervention in an orthopaedic outpatient clinic at the New Somerset Hospital (NSH) in Cape Town in 2013. This project aimed to reduce patient waiting times in the clinic, and improve patient satisfaction. [from introduction]

In the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Health is improving to access to high-quality health services by focusing on the health workforce and, in particular, the systems used to manage these valuable human resources. One important outcome has been the discovery of a large number of people on the payroll who were no longer working. The money saved by cleaning the payroll is being reinvested into the health sector. [from resource]

A comprehensive health care services requires effective human resource (HR) management policy to ensure organizational success. Government is primarily concerned with the size of the workforce rather than the contemporary HR practices. This resulted into lack of attention to HR management in health sector. [from abstract]

This technical brief presents examples from the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform and its members’ efforts to strengthen human resources for health (HRH) and integrate FBOs into national health systems and the HRH community. The brief highlights achievements in selected areas, provides lessons learned, and offers seven key recommendations for furthering FBOs’ efforts. [from introduction]

In post-conflict settings, severe disruption to health systems invariably leaves populations at high risk of disease and
in greater need of health provision than more stable resource-poor countries. The health workforce is often a direct
victim of conflict. Effective human resource management (HRM) strategies and policies are critical to addressing the
systemic effects of conflict on the health workforce such as flight of human capital, mismatches between skills and
service needs, breakdown of pre-service training, and lack of human resource data.

Burma/Myanmar was controlled by a military regime for over 50 years. Many basic social and protection services have been neglected, specifically in the ethnic areas. Development in these areas was led by the ethnic non-state actors to ensure care and the availability of health services for the communities living in the border ethnic-controlled areas. Political changes in Burma/Myanmar have been ongoing since the end of 2010. Given the ethnic diversity of Burma/Myanmar, many challenges in ensuring health service coverage among all ethnic groups lie ahead. [from abstract]

In the 20 years since South Africa underwent a peaceful transition from apartheid to a constitutional democracy, considerable social progress has been made toward reversing the discriminatory practices that pervaded all aspects of life before 1994.1-5 Yet the health and well-being of most South Africans remain plagued by a relentless burden of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, persisting social disparities, and inadequate human resources to provide care for a growing population with a rising tide of refugees and economic migrants. [from abstract]

Qualified and motivated human resource (HR) is essential for a qualitative and robust health care delivery. Understanding the constraints and difficulties of health managers is essential for effective and efficient management of health care services. The present study is aimed at understanding the various constraints and difficulties of human resource management (HRM) in the public health sector. [from abstract]

Access to medical staff differs across Europe. In 2011, the country that had the smallest number of physicians in all European Union was Poland. During last ten years, the number of doctors per capita increased in all European countries except Poland and Estonia. The aim of the study is to analyse the availability of medical staff in Poland and selected EU countries in the years 2003-2011. [from abstract]

This document provides an overview of the HRH labour market in Sudan, highlighting the importance of a comprehensive approach to understanding the driving forces that affect the supply and demand for health workers, in order to provide a basis for developing effective HRH polices that can contribute to progress towards universal health coverage. [from abstract]

The public health sector in South Africa faces a number of human resource–related inundations. Solving these challenges requires the provision of empirically derived information on these matters. This study investigated the relationship between three work-related factors, person-environment fit, work-family balance and perceived job security, and employee satisfaction and organisational commitment. A conceptual framework that links these factors is proposed and tested. [from abstract]

Systematic reviews can offer policymakers and stakeholders concise, transparent, and relevant evidence pertaining to pressing policy priorities to help inform the decision-making process. The production and the use of systematic reviews are specifically limited in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The extent to which published systematic reviews address policy priorities in the region is still unknown.

Health and well-being services, in common with many public services, cannot be delivered by a single organisation and require co-ordination across several organisations in a locality. There is some evidence, mostly from other sectors, that middle managers play pivotal roles in this co-ordination by developing networks of relationships with colleagues in other organisations. These networks of relationships, established over time, provide contexts in which managers can, collectively, create the knowledge needed to address the challenges they encounter.

The detrimental effects of burnout on nurses’ health and wellbeing are well documented and positive leadership has been shown to be an important organizational resource for discouraging the development of burnout. Intrapersonal resources also play a protective role against workplace stressors. This study investigated the influence of authentic leadership, an organizational resource, and psychological capital, an intrapersonal resource, on new graduate burnout, occupational satisfaction, and workplace mental health over the first year of employment (n = 205). [from abstract]