The Knowledge library

Workforce Effectiveness

Early Implementation of WHO Recommendations for the Retention of Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas

November 2013 by James Buchan, Ian D. Couper, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Khampasong Thepannya, Wanda Jaskiewicz, Galina Perfilieva, and Carmen Dolea
Bulletin of the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued 16 global recommendations for improving the recruitment and retention of health workers in rural areas—a challenge faced by most countries and a barrier to universal health coverage. This article discusses the challenges and lessons learned from adaptation and adoption of the recommendations in Lao People’s Democratic Republic and South Africa, and explores the influence of the recommendations regionally in Asia and Europe. In Lao PDR, the Ministry of Health partnered with CapacityPlus and the WHO to apply the Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit (developed by CapacityPlus using the WHO recommendations) and iHRIS Retain costing software to assess which of the recommendations would be most effective in the Laotian context and subsequently inform a new national policy for recruiting and retaining health workers.

TAGS: Health Workers, Lao PDR, Recruitment, Retention, Rural

Achieving HRH Commitments: Lessons Learned and Resources from CapacityPlus

November 2013 by CapacityPlus
application/pdf iconAchieving HRH Commitments: Lessons Learned and Resources from CapacityPlus

This presentation was given at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Recife, Brazil, during the CapacityPlus side session on November 9, 2013. Project leaders shared innovative resources and lessons learned from their application at the country level in the areas of health workforce planning, production, management, performance, and retention.

TAGS: Education and Training, Evaluation and Knowledge-Sharing, Faith-Based Organizations, Gender, Global Leadership, Policy and Planning, Workforce Effectiveness

Applying the HRH Action Framework to Develop Sustainable Excellence in the Health Supply Chain Workforce

October 2013 by Richard Seifman, Rebecca Bailey, and Erin Hasselberg
application/pdf iconCapacityPlus Technical Brief #12 (PDF)
CapacityPlus Technical Brief #12 (Interactive Version)

To ensure that medicines and other health commodities reach the people who need them and contribute to improved health, people in the supply chain management (SCM) field must understand and apply effective approaches for developing and managing supply chain workforces. At the same time, those in the human resources for health (HRH) arena must recognize the crucial role of SCM in health service delivery and ensure that HRH policies, strategies, and plans systematically incorporate the supply chain workforce. The objective of this technical brief is to create a bridge between the SCM and HRH communities by describing how the HRH Action Framework can be applied to strengthen the health supply chain workforce, drawing on lessons learned and successes from applications in the health sector.

TAGS: Health Workers, HRH Action Framework, Human Resources for Health, Supply Chain

Rural Health Worker Retention Tools

October 2013 by CapacityPlus
application/pdf iconRural Health Worker Retention Tools

Provides an overview of CapacityPlus’s tools for attracting and retaining health workers in rural and remote areas.

TAGS: DCE, Health Workers, iHRIS Retain, Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit, Retention

“That’s Improvement!”: Uganda Focuses on Health Workers

September 2013 by Carol Bales and Sarah Dwyer
Uganda video and related stories

In this short video, meet three Ugandan health workers who love their jobs. Agnes, Habiba, and Alex find joy in serving their clients, but they face many challenges—and there are simply not enough health workers to meet the demand. To improve health services, Uganda is focusing on the people that provide quality care. These efforts are paying off and service delivery has improved. Other countries can access the tools and approaches that Uganda has successfully used. The related website section includes stories, photos, and links to resources.

TAGS: Advocacy, Health Workers, HR Information Systems, Human Resources for Health, Leadership, Management, Uganda, Video

Net Costs of Health Worker Rural Incentive Packages: An Example from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

September 2013 by Eric Keuffel, Wanda Jaskiewicz, Chanthakhath Pharm Paphassarang, and Kate Tulenko
Medical Care

Many developing countries are examining whether to institute incentive packages that increase the share of health workers who opt to locate in rural settings; however, uncertainty exists with respect to the expected net cost (or benefit) from these packages. CapacityPlus utilized findings from discrete choice experiment surveys applied to students training to be health professionals and costing analyses in Lao People’s Democratic Republic to model the anticipated effect of incentive packages on new worker location decisions and direct costs. In this example, incentive packages that do not invest in capital-intensive components generally should produce larger net benefits. Combining discrete choice experiment surveys, costing surveys, and cost-benefit analysis methods may be replicated by other developing countries to calculate whether health worker incentive packages are viable policy options.

TAGS: Discrete Choice Experiment, Health Workers, Lao PDR, Recruitment, Retention, Rural

Differences in Preferences for Rural Job Postings between Nursing Students and Practicing Nurses: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

May 2013 by Peter C. Rockers, Wanda Jaskiewicz, Margaret E. Kruk, Outavong Phathammavong, Phouthone Vangkonevilay, Chanthakhath Paphassarang, Inpong Thong Phachanh, Laura Wurts, and Kate Tulenko
Human Resources for Health

A discrete choice experiment was conducted to investigate preferences for job characteristics among nursing students and practicing nurses to understand whether differing policies may be appropriate for each group. Data were collected from 256 nursing students and 249 practicing nurses. For both groups, choice of job posting was strongly influenced by salary and direct promotion to permanent staff. As compared to nursing students, practicing nurses had significantly lower preference for housing allowance and housing provision as well as lower preference for provision of transportation for work and personal use. Findings suggest that it may be important to differentiate between recruitment and retention policies when addressing human resources for health challenges in developing countries, such as Lao PDR.

TAGS: Discrete Choice Experiment, Health Workers, Lao PDR, Nurses, Recruitment, Retention, Rural