BACKGROUND There is a need to develop a national census of the health information workforce to inform the planning and forecasting of the workforce and inform education and training needs. Yet, this raises a number of issues that need to be incorporated into the planning stage. This paper discusses the issues and recommendations for the development of a national health information workforce cen...

The rapid influx of smart devices, including tablets and phones, has greatly accelerated the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and mobile workforce trends, which in turn is creating an ever-mounting management challenge to today's IT environment. The entry of diverse untrusted devices, multiple operating systems (OSs), and consumer-oriented applications into what used to be a controlled IT environme...

BACKGROUND In an attempt to devise a simpler computable tool to assist workforce planners in determining what might be an appropriate mix of health service skills, our discussion led us to consider the implications of skill mixing and workforce composition beyond the 'stock and flow' approach of much workforce planning activity. METHODS Taking a dynamic systems approach, we were able to addre...

Globally and regionally, hospitals absorb around 50%–70% of total government health expenditure, employ a large workforce and make extensive use of sophisticated biomedical technology. Improvement of hospital performance as part of improving overall health system performance is high on the reform agenda of countries in the Region. This paper raises awareness of the gaps in hospital performance ...

The reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has become an integral part of most macroeconomic stabilisation programmes implemented worldwide in recent years. The main instruments used to reform these enterprises have been divestiture and workforce downsizing. In Latin America, in particular, the pursuit of fiscal consolidation has added another important dimension to public enterprise reform. ...

BACKGROUND Public health workforce planning and policy development require adequate data on the public health workforce and the services provided. If existing data sources do not contain the necessary information, or apply to part of the workforce only, primary data collection is required. The aim of this study was to develop a strategy to enumerate and characterize the public health workforce ...

Background The migration of dentists is a major policy challenge facing both developing and developed countries. Dentists from over 120 countries migrate to Australia, and a large proportion are from developing countries. The aim of the study was to assess the life story experience (LSE) of migrant dentists in Australia, in order to address key policy challenges facing dentist migration.   Meth...

Gender is a key factor operating in the health workforce. Recent research evidence points to systemic gender discrimination and inequalities in health pre-service and in-service education and employment systems. Human resources for health (HRH) leaders' and researchers' lack of concerted attention to these inequalities is striking, given the recognition of other forms of discrimination in inter...