Human Resources Management

Assessment of Provider Competence and Quality of Maternal/Newborn Care in Selected Latin American and Caribbean Countries

To obtain a snapshot of the maternal and newborn care provided by different types of maternal and child health providers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to 1) better inform advocacy and programmatic strategies and interventions to improve the quality of those services in the region, and 2) determine the need for more rigorous study of the issues. [from abstract]

Supporting Close-to-Community Providers Through a Community Health System Approach: Case Examples from Ethiopia and Tanzania

Close-to-community (CTC) providers, including community health workers or volunteers or health extension workers, can be effective in promoting access to and utilization of health services. Tasks are often shifted to these providers with limited resources and support from CTC programmes or communities. Two cases are presented. [from abstract]

Measuring Customer Service in a Private Hospital

This study measures service quality management in a private hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. This was done by
determining the current standard of service quality management, identifying the gap between the value and the satisfaction of the service quality dimensions, as well as the influence of gender on the perception of service quality. [from abstract]

Pay for Performance: An Analysis of the Context of Implementation In A Pilot Project in Tanzania

Pay for performance schemes are increasingly being implemented in low income countries to improve health service coverage and quality. This paper describes the context within which a pay for performance programme was introduced in Tanzania and discusses the potential for pay for performance to address health system constraints to meeting targets. [from abstract]

Performance-Based Financing: Fact Sheet

Performance-based financing (PBF) is a powerful management approach to increase the quantity and quality of health services by providing incentives to service providers to improve performance. [from introduction]

As good as physicians: patient perceptions of physicians and non-physician clinicians in rural primary health centers in India

This study investigates patient views of physicians (Medical Officers) and NPCs in terms of patient satisfaction, perceived quality, and provider trust. [from abstract]

Interprofessional Teamwork in the Trauma Setting: A Scoping Review

Despite the emphasis on inter-professional collaborative practice and patient safety, inter-professional team working in the trauma setting has received little attention. This paper presents the findings of a scoping review designed to identify the extent and nature of this literature in this setting. [from abstract]

Factors Affecting Compliance with Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pap Smear Screening among Healthcare Providers in Africa: Systematic Review and Meta-Summary of 2045 Individuals

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-summary to identify factors affecting compliance among healthcare providers in Africa with clinical practice guidelines for pap screening to reduce cancer incidence and mortality. [adapted from abstract]

Cross Sectional Study of Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Tuberculosis among Front-Line Tuberculosis Personnel in High Burden Areas of Lima, Peru

This study analyzed mean knowledge scores among health workers in 66 health centers in Peru to identify overall gaps in key areas of tuberculosis (TB) treatment and control knowledge, and attitudes towards the disease and the national TB control program. [adapted from abstract]

Assessment of Junior Doctor Performance: A Validation Study

This paper reports on a validation study of an assessment tool for junior doctors to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument and to explore the effect of length of experience as a first year post-graduate on assessment scores. [adapted from author]

Medical Professionalism among Clinical Physicians in Two Tertiary Hospitals, China

This article reports a study which developed a 13-item professional attitudes and 11-item behaviors inventory in order to investigate medical professional attitudes and behaviors in China and explore the influencing factors. [adapted from abstract]

TB Tracer Teams in South Africa: Knowledge, Practices and Challenges of Tracing TB Patients to Improve Adherence

This study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of tuberculosis (TB) program personnel involved with tracing activities as part of a national pilot project in South Africa, the TB Tracer Project, which aims to decrease default rates and improve patient outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

Quality of Sick Child Care Delivered by Health Surveillance Assistants in Malawi

This study was carried out to assess the quality of care provided by Health Surveillance Assistants—a cadre of community-based health workers—as part of a national scale-up of community case management of childhood illness in Malawi. [from abstract]

Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment Practices Following Introduction of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Kibaha District, Coast Region, Tanzania

The aim of this study was to assess health workers’ perceptions, practices use of malaria diagnostics, prescription behavior and factors affecting adherence to test results at primary health care facilities in Kibaha District, Coast Region, Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

Healthcare Providers' Knowledge, Experience and Challenges of Reporting Adverse Events Following Immunization: A Qualitative Study

The aim of this study was explore the knowledge, experience and attitudes of medical and nursing professionals towards detecting and reporting adverse events following immunization. [from abstract]

Evaluation of the Quality of IMCI Assessments among IMCI Trained Health Workers in South Africa

This report is an evaluation of integrated management of childhood illness, a strategy to reduce mortality and morbidity in children under 5 years by improving health workers’ case management of common and serious illnesses at primary health care level, in two provinces of South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

Adherence to Management Guidelines for Growth Faltering and Anaemia in Remote Dwelling Australian Aboriginal Infants and Barriers to Health Service Delivery

This study describes the adherence to infant guidelines for anaemia and growth faltering by remote health staff and barriers to effective service delivery in remote settings. [from abstract]

Uncovering High Rates of Unsafe Injection Equipment Reuse in Rural Cameroon: Validation of a Survey Instrument that Probes for Specific Misconceptions

The main objective of this study is to assess the extent of unsafe injection equipment reuse by health workers and potential for blood-borne virus transmission in Cameroon. [from abstract]

Knowledge and Practices of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy among Health Workers in a Southwest Local Government Area of Nigeria

This cross-sectional study was therefore designed to assess the level of knowledge and practice of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy among health workers. [adapted from abstract]

Trends in Health Worker Performance after Implementing the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Strategy in Benin

Training health workers to use integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) guidelines can improve care for ill children in outpatient settings in developing countries. This article aimed to determine if the performance of IMCI-trained health workers deteriorated over 3 years. [from abstract]

Compliance with Focused Antenatal Care Services: Do Health Workers in Rural Burkina Faso, Uganda and Tanzania Perform All ANC Procedures?

This study aimed to assess health workers’ compliance with the procedures set in the focused antenatal care guidelines in rural Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso; to compare the compliance within and among the three study sites; and to appraise the logistic and supply of the respective health facilities. [from abstract]

Death Certificate Completion Skills of Hospital Physicians in a Devloping Country

Death certificates can provide valuable health status data regarding disease incidence, prevalence and mortality in a community to guide local health policy and help in setting priorities. This study evaluated the accuracy of death certificates at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a Karachi, Pakistan. [adapted from abstract]

Does Implementation of a Hospitalist Program in a Canadian Community Hospital Improve Measures of Quality of Care and Utilization? An Observational Comparative Analysis of Hospitalists vs. Traditional Care Providers

The objective of this study is to compare measures of cost and quality of care (in-hospital mortality, 30-day same-facility readmission, and length of stay) of hospitalists vs. traditional physician providers in a large Canadian community hospital setting. [from abstract]

Performance Assessment in Primary Health Care: A Systematic Literature Review

The aim of this research is to carry out a systematic literature review of the studies devoted to the performance assessment of primary health care providers. Focusing on the peculiarities of performance evaluation in the public sector, it analyses the selected empirical papers in terms of the efficacy of the developed measurement schemes. [adpated from author]

Assessment of Provider Adherence to TB Evidence-Based Standards and Guidelines in Zambia

This study was undertaken to determine providers’ adherence with evidence based TB standards and guidelines in Zambia at national, provincial/district and facility-based levels. [adapted from summary]

Health Workers' Performance in the Implementation of Patient Centred Tuberculosis Treatment (PCT) Strategy Under Programmatic Conditions in Tanzania: A Cross Sectional Study

PCT aims to improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment by giving patients the choice of having drug intake supervised at the health facility by a medical professional or at home by a supporter of their choice. This study assessed whether key elements of the PCT approach were being implemented, evaluated supporters’ knowledge, captured opinions on factors contributing to treatment completion, and assessed how treatment completion was measured. [from abstract]

Conceptualizing Performance of Nursing Care as a Prerequisite for Better Measurement: A Systematic and Interpretive Review

The objectives of this study were to: develop a theoretically based framework to conceptualize nursing care performance; analyze how the different components of the framework have been operationalized in the literature; and develop a pool of indicators sensitive to various aspects of nursing care that can be used as a basis for designing a performance measurement system. [from abstract]

Checklists in the Operating Room: Help or Hurdle? A Qualitative Study on Health Workers' Experiences

This study explored the nurses’ and physicians’ acceptance and experiences with a pre-induction checklist implemented in an anaesthetic department. [adapted from author]

How Does the Medical Graduates' Self-Assessment of Their Clinical Competency Differ from Experts' Assessment?

The objective of this study was to assess the clinical competency of medical graduates, as perceived by the graduates themselves and by the experts. [from abstract]

Developing a Measure of Provider Adherence to Improve the Implementation of Behavioral Heatlh Services in Primary Care: A Delphi Study

This study aimed to develop a self-report measure of behavioral health provider adherence for co-located, collaborative care, a commonly adopted model of behavioral health service delivery in primary care. [from abstract]