Americas & Caribbean

This presentation discusses the United States’ implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, the challenges and next steps. [adapted from author]

Based on the goals of health care reform, growth in the demand for health care will continue to increase the demand for physicians and, as physician shortages widen, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants will play larger roles. The objective of this study was to assess the capacity of this combined workforce to meet the future demand for clinical services. [from author]

The ultimate goal of this project was to help policy and decision makers maintain and enhance the health of the nursing workforce by providing them with an overview of the information related to nurse health in Canada. [adapted from author]

As clinical experts, leaders and change agents, advanced practice nurses (APN) are recognized as an important human resource strategy for improving access to high-quality, cost-effective and sustainable models of healthcare. This report aims to develop a better understanding of the roles of APNs, the contexts in which they are currently being used, and the health system factors that influence the effective integration of advanced practice nursing in the Canadian healthcare system. [adapted from author]

The imperative to deliver the best care possible drives research on best practices in nursing. This study examines what it takes to spread a guideline or recommendation from one or two units or organizations to a system-wide innovation that benefits all patients and providers and the healthcare system as a whole; what cost drivers and increased benefits come with spreading a best practice; and what supports, sustains or gets in the way of spreading evidence-informed change. [adapted from summary]

The purpose of the study was to examine intimidation, harassment and/or discrimination as reported by Alberta family medicine graduates during their two-year residency program. [from abstract]

This paper describes an initiative to create a framework to analyze the field of human resources for health (HRH) in Latin America and the Caribbean, more specifically the development of a set of metrics and indicators to be used in monitoring HRH policies in the region. [adapted from author]

This study is an attempt to understand how aging affects physicians’ work, including staying in or leaving clinical practice, and the impact of this on health workforce planning. [adapted from author]

This paper reports on progress in implementing human resources for health policies in Brazil, in the context of the implementation and expansion of the Unified Health System. [from abstract]

This work was undertaken to inform the debate on the relationship between working conditions and the provision of health care. We found that the work environment impacts on health care workers as they try to provide a more equitable form of health care. [from abstract]

This article highlights some challenges from the recent experience with surgical team after the Haiti earthquake and proposes some ways forward to support an effective surgical humanitarian response to future major disasters. [adapted from author]

For more than 25 years, family medicine residencies have worked with community health centers (CHCs) to train family physicians. This study compares CHC and non-CHC-trained family physicians regarding practice location, job and training satisfaction, and recruitment and retention to underserved areas. [from author]

This paper assesses whether the process of decentralizing human resources for health management and organization to the level of the state and municipal health departments has involved investments in technical, political and financial resources at the national level. [from abstract]

This article describes an innovative strategy to test a health human resource (HHR) planning and employment model to foster inter-organizational collaboration, knowledge transfer and exchange of nurses between an urban academic health science centre and a remote region in northern Ontario. [from introduction]

This article describes a project that aimed to strengthen Ecuador’s capacity to promote healthier and safer hospitals by reducing occupational transmission of infectious diseases. [from author]

This study, conducted from August to September 2007, utilized a population-based survey to investigate stigmatizing attitudes and acts of discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients among doctors and nurses working in public hospitals in Belize. [from abstract]

This report considers the available evidence about the relationship between staffing levels and deployment practices and safety of care for mothers and babies. In so doing, the report considers different staffing models and approaches.

This document addresses the field of public health education and the conditions in which public health personnel is integrated into the labor market. One of the purposes of the report is to investigate the characteristics of public health educational programs and their relation to the needs of national health systems. [from author]

All disasters are a health issue with national health workers at the heart of every response. This research into the role of national and international health workers after the 2010 earthquake in Haitie signals a need to rethink how the humanitarian community works with national health system and stresses how a strong health system offers vital protection from disaster-related risks.

The objectives of this scoping exercise were to provide an overview of existing definitions and concepts of health human resources productivity; a summary of the important contributions in literature; an overview of the leading researchers/centres with expertise on this topic; and
gaps and priorities for further research. [adapted from summary]

This study used both qualitative and quantitative measures to evaluate the role of the communtiy health workers in enhancing the interface between primary health care oriented health services and households in responses to HIV
and AIDS. [from author]

The Peruvian Ministry of Health approved the Policy Guidelines on Human Resources in Health to address important aspects such as training tailored to the needs of the country, development of competencies, decentralized management of human resources, motivation, and commitment. This summary outlines the process of implementing this political and strategic framework for carrying out programs to develop human potential with a competency-based approach. [adapted from author]

It is necessary to establish cooperation mechanisms between universities and health services in order to be able to adapt education of the health professionals to a universal and equitable model of service delivery and quality care. This report outlines the design of a competencies-based curriculum plan and syllabus for five universities in Peru. [adapted from author]

As demand for family planning services in Peru increases, there needs to be a shift in how the public and private sectors respond. Promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors is a strategy for ensuring that unmet needs for services and contraceptives is satisfied, particularly among vulnerable populations in rural and remote regions. [from summary]

Physicians leaving and reentering clinical practice can have significant medical workforce implications. This study surveyed inactive physicians younger than typical retirement age to determine their reasons for clinical inactivity and what barriers, real or perceived, there were to reentry into the medical workforce. [from abstract]

The authors postulate that learning among clinic group members is a particularly important attribute of a primary care clinic that has not yet been well-studied in the health care literature, but may be related to the ability of primary care practices to improve the care they deliver. This article aimes to better understand learning in primary care settings by developing a scale of learning in primary care clinics based on the literature related to learning across disciplines, and to examine the association between scale responses and chronic care model implementation. [from abstract]

This 2:56 minute video is part of the Good Goes campaign and showcases the work of Felix Aguilar Ramirez, a community health worker in the Xachmochan village in Guatemala.

This report oulines the lessons learned from a program designed to to build the capacity of staff in health care centers and hospitals to effectively screen for intra-family violence and refer victims to appropriate services, and to better educate and involve men in sexual and reproductive health through pilot activities in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. [adapted from author]

The objective of this study was to assess the influence of loan repayment and other factors on the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in rural Colorado, USA, and to compare the motivations and attitudes of these rural providers with their urban counterparts. [from introduction]

This article describes a program directed at the re-supply of rural physicians in rural areas and its success in addressing the critical shortages caused by maldistribution of health care workers. [adapated from abstract]