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Adapting Pacific Medical Internships to Changing Contexts

This policy brief outlines current and needed medical internship programs in the Pacific and the policy implications. [adapted from author]

Accreditation of Healthcare Professionals' Education in Pacific Island Countries: Evidence and Options

This brief discusses accreditation of health worker education programs, evidence on accreditation models, the importance of accreditation in the Pacific and the policy implications. [adapted from author]

Commissioning the Education of Healthcare Professionals for Pacific Island Countries

This brief outlines the issues surrounding commissioning of health professionals education and training, the challenges and establishing systems to help Pacific Island Countries manage the existing and future health workforce effectively. [adapted from author]

Medical Education and Training in the Pacific Island Countries: Evidence and Options

This brief outlines the continuum of medical education and training for the Pacific health workforce and the policy implications of the situation. [adapted from author]

Information Needs to Manage Pacific Health Worker Migration

This paper reports the findings of a six country migration study to help fill information and knowledge gaps by visiting selected Pacific Island Countries and collecting available data on migrating and returning health workers. Information was also compiled on policy and procedures governing exit from public service, and the emigration and immigration of health personnel. [adapted from summary]

Implementing a Provider-Initiated Testing and Counseling (PITC) Intervention in Cape Town, South Africa: A Process Evaluation Using the Normalisation Process Model

This paper reports the findings of a process evaluation of a controlled trial of PITC for people with sexually transmitted infections attending publicly funded clinics in a low-resource setting in South Africa, where the trial results were lower than anticipated compared to the standard voluntary counselling and testing approach. [from abstract]

Forecasting the Absolute and Relative Shortage of Physicians in Japan Using a System Dynamics Model Approach

The purpose of this study was to propose a physician supply forecasting methodology by applying system dynamics modeling to estimate future absolute and relative numbers of physicians. [from abstract]

Medicine Sellers' Perspectives on Their Role in Providing Health Care in North-West Cameroon: A Qualitative Study

This study used in-depth interviews to explore perceptions of medicine seller roles among a restricted random sample of 20 medicine sellers in North-West Cameroon. Interviews and analysis explored self-perception of their work/role, community perceptions, skills and knowledge, regulation, future plans, links with the formal health system and diversity among medicine sellers. [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]

Integrating Child Health Services into Malaria Control Services of Village Malaria Workers in Remote Cambodia: Service Utilization and Knowledge of Malaria Management of Caregivers

This study aimed to identify determinants of caregivers’ use of village malaria workers services for childhood illness and caregivers’ knowledge of malaria management. [adapted 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]

Demonstration Study Comparing Role-Emergent Versus Role-Established Pharmacy Clinical Placement Experiences in Long-Term Care Facilities

This study was undertaken to explore the viability of supervising pharmacy students remotely – a model referred to in the literature as role-emergent placements as a possible model to fill the gap in on-site pharmacy preceptors at role-established sites. This paper discusses pharmacy preceptors and long-term care facility non-pharmacist staff experiences with this model. [adapted from abstract]

Getting Doctors into the Bush: General Practitioners' Preferences for Rural Location

The aim of this study is to examine the preferences of general practitioners (GPs) for rural location using a discrete choice experiment to estimate the probabilities of moving to a rural area, and the size of financial incentives GPs would require to move there. [adapted from abstract]

Migration of South African Health Workers: The Extent to Which Financial Considerations Influence Internal Flows and External Movements

This study investigates the causes of migration focusing on the role of salaries and benefits. Health professionals from public, private and non-governmental health facilities located in selected peri-urban and urban areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa were surveyed about their current positions and attitudes toward migration. [from abstract]

Client-Centered Counseling Improves Client Satisfaction with Family Planning Visits: Evidence from Irbid, Jordan

High levels of unmet need for family planning and high contraceptive discontinuation rates persist in Jordan, prompting the initiation a client-centered family planning service program with community-based activities to encourage women with unmet need to visit health centers, which was evaluated in this study. [adapted from abstract]

Comparative Study of an Externship Program Versus a Corporate-Academic Cooperation Program for Enhancing Nursing Competence of Graduating Students

This study compared the effects of an externship program and a corporate-academic cooperation program on enhancing junior college students’ nursing competence and retention rates in the first 3 months and 1 year of initial employment.

Association between Health Worker Motivation and Healthcare Quality Efforts in Ghana

This paper addresses indicators of health worker motivation and assesses associations with quality care and patient safety in Ghana. The aim is to identify interventions at the health worker level that contribute to quality improvement in healthcare facilities. [from abstract]

Quality of Intrapartum Care at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda: Clients' Perspective

The study contributes to quality improvement programs responsible for accelerating reduction of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Uganda. It documents and informs clinicians, hospital managers, and policy makers about quality of care aspects that need to be improved in promoting newborns and maternal survival and well being during labor to promote women’s utilization of skilled attendance at birth. [from author]

High HIV Testing Uptake and Linkage to Care in a Novel Program of Home-Based HIV Counseling and Testing with Facilitated Referral in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This study piloted home-based counseling and testing with point-of-care CD4 count testing and follow-up visits from lay counselors to facilitate linkage of HIV-infected persons to local HIV clinics and uptake of antiretroviral treatment in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

One Student, One Family Program: Health Sciences Fostering Communities and Professionals

This presentation outlines the methodology, aims and results of a highly successful and innovative program of pre-service health education at Lurio University that links future health professionals with the community by assigning each student to a family. The student monitors the family’s health status and analyzes the social, economic and cultural aspects impacting on the individuals’s and family health such as education and nutrition.

Accuracy of General Practitioner Workforce Projections

This study tested a workforce projection model in the Netherlands by comparing the ex-post projected number of general practitioners with the observed number of general practitioners between 1998 and 2011. [adapted from abstract]

Self-Reported Occupational Exposure to HIV Factors Influencing Its Management Practice: A Study of Healthcare Workers in Tumbi and Dodoma Hospitals, Tanzania

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of self-reported occupational exposure to HIV among health care workers and explore factors that influence the practice of managing occupational exposure to HIV by health care workers in Tanzania. [from abstract]

Challenges for Nursing Education in Angola: The Perception of Nurse Leaders Affiliated with Professional Education Institutions

The aim in this study was to identify how nurses affiliated with nursing education institutions perceive the challenges nursing education is facing in Angola. [from abstract]

Protocol for the Evaluation of a Pay for Performance Programme in Pwani Region in Tanzania: A Controlled Before and After Study

This protocol outlines a controlled before and after study that will examine the effect of a pay-for-performance incentive program on quality, coverage, and cost of targeted maternal and newborn healthcare services and selected non-targeted services at facilities in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

Screening and Counselling in the Primary Care Setting for Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence (WEAVE): A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

This study assessed whether brief counselling from family doctors trained to respond to women identified through intimate partner violence screening would increase women’s quality of life, safety planning and behavior, and mental health. [from summary]

Establishing a Health Information Workforce: Innovation for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This article describes the early outcomes, achievements, and challenges from an initiative that hired university graduates without training in health information and provided on-the-job training and mentoring to create a new cadre of health worker in order to address the shortage of health information personnel within Botswana. [adapted from abstract]

Role of Clinical Officers in the Kenyan Health System: A Question of Perspective

This work explored perceptions of the roles of Kenyan non-physician clinicians in typical health system settings. [adapted from abstract]

Developing the National Community Health Assistant Strategy in Zambia: A Policy Analysis

The Ministry of Health in Zambia developed a strategy to integrate community health workers into national health plans by creating a new group of community health assistants. The aim of the paper is to analyse the policy development process and the factors that influenced its evolution and content. [adapted from abstract]

Latex Allergy and Its Clinical Features among Healthcare Workers at Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province, South Africa

The main objective of this study was to document the prevalence and disease spectrum of latex allergy, a common occupational disease among healthcare workers who use latex gloves, at Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province, South Africa. [adapted from author]

Factors Affecting Learning and Teaching for Medicines Supply Management Training in Pacific Island Countries: A Realist View

The focus of this review was to determine what cultural and learning factors need to be considered when developing a curriculum for South Pacific pharmaceutical health personnel who work across a range of practice environments. [from abstract]