Lesson 7 Essay
The Lesson 7 reading discusses current issues in healthcare human resources from a global perspective. The study specifically examines countries such as the USA, Canada, and Germany just to name a few. Select 2 countries and compare the current state of healthcare human resources for each you have selected. Your response should be 1 - 2 pages.
You must use APA format. Your essay should be double-spacedwith 1" margins on all sides. You should use a 12 point font that is legible.
BioMed CentralHuman Resources for Health ss Open AcceResearch The importance of human resources management in health care: a global context Stefane M Kabene*1,3, Carole Orchard3, John M Howard2, Mark A Soriano1 and Raymond Leduc1 Address: 1Management and Organizational Studies, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, 2Schulich School of Medicine, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada and 3School of Nursing, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Email: Stefane M Kabene* - skabene@uwo.ca; Carole Orchard - corchard@uwo.ca; John M Howard - johnmhoward@rogers.com; Mark A Soriano - msoriano@uwo.ca; Raymond Leduc - rleduc@uwo.ca * Corresponding author Abstract Background: This paper addresses the health care system from a global perspective and the importance of human resources management (HRM) in improving overall patient health outcomes and delivery of health care services. Methods: We explored the published literature and collected data through secondary sources. Results: Various key success factors emerge that clearly affect health care practices and human resources management. This paper will reveal how human resources management is essential to any health care system and how it can improve health care models. Challenges in the health care systems in Canada, the United States of America and various developing countries are examined, with suggestions for ways to overcome these problems through the proper implementation of human resources management practices. Comparing and contrasting selected countries allowed a deeper understanding of the practical and crucial role of human resources management in health care. Conclusion: Proper management of human resources is critical in providing a high quality of health care. A refocus on human resources management in health care and more research are needed to develop new policies. Effective human resources management strategies are greatly needed to achieve better outcomes from and access to health care around the world. Background Defining human resources in health care Within many health care systems worldwide, increased attention is being focused on human resources manage- ment (HRM). Specifically, human resources are one of three principle health system inputs, with the other two major inputs being physical capital and consumables [1]. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between health system inputs, budget elements and expenditure categories. Human resources, when pertaining to health care, can be defined as the different kinds of clinical and non-clinical staff responsible for public and individual health inter- vention [1]. As arguably the most important of the health Published: 27 July 2006 Human Resources for Health 2006, 4:20 doi:10.1186/1478-4491-4-20 Received: 13 April 2006 Accepted: 27 July 2006 This article is available from: http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20 © 2006 Kabene et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Page 1 of 17 (page number not for citation purposes) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16872531 http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 http://www.biomedcentral.com/ http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/charter/ Human Resources for Health 2006, 4:20 http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20 system inputs, the performance and the benefits the sys- tem can deliver depend largely upon the knowledge, skills and motivation of those individuals responsible for deliv- ering health services [1]. As well as the balance between the human and physical resources, it is also essential to maintain an appropriate mix between the different types of health promoters and caregivers to ensure the system's success [1]. Due to their obvious and important differences, it is imperative that human capital is handled and managed very differently from physical capital [1]. The relationship between human resources and health care is very complex, and it merits further examination and study. Both the number and cost of health care consumables (drugs, prostheses and disposable equipment) are rising astronomically, which in turn can drastically increase the costs of health care. In publicly-funded systems, expendi- tures in this area can affect the ability to hire and sustain effective practitioners. In both government-funded and employer-paid systems, HRM practices must be devel- oped in order to find the appropriate balance of workforce supply and the ability of those practitioners to practise effectively and efficiently. A practitioner without adequate tools is as inefficient as having the tools without the prac- titioner. Key questions and issues pertaining to human resources in health care When examining health care systems in a global context, many general human resources issues and questions arise. Some of the issues of greatest relevance that will be dis- cussed in further detail include the size, composition and distribution of the health care workforce, workforce train- ing issues, the migration of health workers, the level of economic development in a particular country and socio- demographic, geographical and cultural factors. The variation of size, distribution and composition within a county's health care workforce is of great concern. For example, the number of health workers available in a Relationship between health system inputs, budget elements and expenditure categoriesFigure 1 Relationship between health system inputs, budget elements and expenditure categories. Source: World Health Report 2000 Figure 4.1 pg.75. http://www.who.int.proxy.lib.uwo.ca:2048/whr/2000/en/whr00_ch4_en.pdf Figure 1 identifies three principal health system inputs: human resources, physical capital and consumables. It also shows how the financial resources to purchase these inputs are of both a capital investment and a recurrent character. As in other industries, invest- ment decisions in health are critical because they are generally irreversible: they commit large amounts of money to places and activities that are difficult, even impossible, to cancel, close or scale down [1]. Page 2 of 17 (page number not for citation purposes) http://www.who.int.proxy.lib.uwo.ca:2048/whr/2000/en/whr00_ch4_en.pdf Human Resources for Health 2006, 4:20 http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20 country is a key indicator of that country's capacity to pro- vide delivery and interventions [2]. Factors to consider when determining the demand for health services in a par- ticular country include cultural characteristics, sociode- mographic characteristics and economic factors [3]. Workforce training is another important issue. It is essen- tial that human resources personnel consider the compo- sition of the health workforce in terms of both skill categories and training levels [2]. New options for the education and in-service training of health care workers are required to ensure that the workforce is aware of and prepared to meet a particular country's present and future needs [2]. A properly trained and competent workforce is essential to any successful health care system. The migration of health care workers is an issue that arises when examining global health care systems. Research sug- gests that the movement of health care professionals closely follows the migration pattern of all professionals in that the internal movement of the workforce to urban areas is common to all countries [2]. Workforce mobility can create additional imbalances that require better work- force planning, attention to issues of pay and other rewards and improved overall management of the work- force [2]. In addition to salary incentives, developing countries use other strategies such as housing, infrastruc- ture and opportunities for job rotation to recruit and retain health professionals [2], since many health workers in developing countries are underpaid, poorly motivated and very dissatisfied [3]. The migration of health workers is an important human resources issue that must be care- fully measured and monitored. Another issue that arises when examining global health care systems is a country's level of economic develop- ment. There is evidence of a significant positive correla- tion between the level of economic development in a country and its number of human resources for health [3]. Countries with higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita spend more on health care than countries with lower GDP and they tend to have larger health workforces [3]. This is an important factor to consider when examin- ing and attempting to implement solutions to problems in health care systems in developing countries. Socio-demographic elements such as age distribution of the population also play a key role in a country's health care system. An ageing population leads to an increase in demand for health services and health personnel [3]. An ageing population within the health care system itself also has important implications: additional training of younger workers will be required to fill the positions of the large number of health care workers that will be retir- ing. It is also essential that cultural and geographical factors be considered when examining global health care systems. Geographical factors such as climate or topography influ- ence the ability to deliver health services; the cultural and political values of a particular nation can also affect the demand and supply of human resources for health [3]. The above are just some of the many issues that must be addressed when examining global health care and human resources that merit further consideration and study. The impact of human resources on health sector reform When examining global health care systems, it is both use- ful and important to explore the impact of human resources on health sector reform. While the specific health care reform process varies by country, some trends can be identified. Three of the main trends include effi- ciency, equity and quality objectives [3]. Various human resources initiatives have been employed in an attempt to increase efficiency. Outsourcing of serv- ices has been used to convert fixed labor expenditures into variable costs as a means of improving efficiency. Con- tracting-out, performance contracts and internal contract- ing are also examples of measures employed [3]. Many human resources initiatives for health sector reform also include attempts to increase equity or fairness. Strat- egies aimed at promoting equity in relation to needs require more systematic planning of health services [3]. Some of these strategies include the introduction of finan- cial protection mechanisms, the targeting of specific needs and groups, and re-deployment services [3]. One of the goals of human resource professionals must be to use these and other measures to increase equity in their coun- tries. Human resources in health sector reform also seek to improve the quality of services and patients' satisfaction. Health care quality is generally defined in two ways: tech- nical quality and sociocultural quality. Technical quality refers to the impact that the health services available can have on the health conditions of a population [3]. Socio- cultural quality measures the degree of acceptability of services and the ability to satisfy patients' expectations [3]. Human resource professionals face many obstacles in their attempt to deliver high-quality health care to citi- zens. Some of these constraints include budgets, lack of congruence between different stakeholders' values, absen- teeism rates, high rates of turnover and low morale of health personnel [3]. Better use of the spectrum of health care providers and better coordination of patient services through interdisci- plinary teamwork have been recommended as part of Page 3 of 17 (page number not for citation purposes) Human Resources for Health 2006, 4:20 http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20 health sector reform [4]. Since all health care is ultimately delivered by people, effective human resources manage- ment will play a vital role in the success