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Positioning the Health Services Research Workforce for Continued Success: Recommendations from AcademyHealth Stakeholders.

ABSTRACT: AcademyHealth established a Workforce Initiative Task Force in 2016 to conduct an assessment of the state of the health services research workforce and develop recommendations for its future in the context of the changing health care and research ecosystems. This assessment included four components: a series of commissioned papers, an online priority setting process, a multistakeholder summit, and final analysis by the AcademyHealth Education Council. This paper presents this process and the resultant list of prioritized recommendations and planned next steps.

SUBMITTER: Menachemi N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6149359 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Positioning the Health Services Research Workforce for Continued Success: Recommendations from AcademyHealth Stakeholders.

Menachemi Nir N Simpson Lisa A LA Wolfe Meghan J MJ

Health services research 20181001

AcademyHealth established a Workforce Initiative Task Force in 2016 to conduct an assessment of the state of the health services research workforce and develop recommendations for its future in the context of the changing health care and research ecosystems. This assessment included four components: a series of commissioned papers, an online priority setting process, a multistakeholder summit, and final analysis by the AcademyHealth Education Council. This paper presents this process and the res ...[more]

PMID: 30240007

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Project description:IntroductionThe single biggest barrier for countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to scale up the necessary health services for addressing the three health-related Millennium Development Goals and achieving Universal Health Coverage is the lack of an adequate and well-performing health workforce. This deficit needs to be addressed both by training more new health personnel and by improving the performance of the existing and future health workforce. However, efforts have mostly been focused on training new staff and less on improving the performance of the existing health workforce. The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the protocol for the PERFORM project and reflect on the key challenges encountered during the development of this methodology and how they are being overcome.MethodsThe overall aim of the PERFORM project is to identify ways of strengthening district management in order to address health workforce inadequacies by improving health workforce performance in SSA. The study will take place in three districts each in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda using an action research approach. With the support of the country research teams, the district health management teams (DHMTs) will lead on planning, implementation, observation, reflection and redefinition of the activities in the study. Taking into account the national and local human resource (HR) and health systems (HS) policies and practices already in place, 'bundles' of HR/HS strategies that are feasible within the context and affordable within the districts' budget will be developed by the DHMTs to strengthen priority areas of health workforce performance. A comparative analysis of the findings from the three districts in each country will add new knowledge on the effects of these HR/HS bundles on DHMT management and workforce performance and the impact of an action research approach on improving the effectiveness of the DHMTs in implementing these interventions.DiscussionDifferent challenges were faced during the development of the methodology. These include the changing context in the study districts, competing with other projects and duties for the time of district managers, complexity of the study design, maintaining the anonymity and confidentiality of study participants as well as how to record the processes during the study. We also discuss how these challenges are being addressed. The dissemination of this research protocol is intended to generate interest in the PERFORM project and also stimulate discussion on the use of action research in complex studies such as this on strengthening district health management to improve health workforce performance.

Project description:BackgroundCurrently the health research system in Lao PDR is fragmented and largely donor led. Capacity among national public health institutes is limited to select priority research questions for funding.ObjectiveThe objective of this capacity building and practice-oriented study is to describe the process and outcome of the first National Health Research Agenda for Lao PDR and how the agenda contributes to institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health, in order to contribute to evidence-informed public health policy making.MethodThis activity used a mixed-methods approach. The overall design is based on principles of the interactive Learning and Action approach and consists out of 6 phases: (1) identification of needs, (2) shared analysis and integration, (3) nation-wide prioritization of research domains, (4) exploring specific research questions, (5) prioritization of research avenues, (6) dialogue and planning for action. The process involved interviews with experts in health policy and research (n = 42), telephone-based survey with district, provincial and national health staff (n = 135), a two-round Delphi consultation with experts in health policy and research (n = 33), and a workshop with policymakers, researchers, international organisations and civil society (n = 45) were held to gather data and conduct shared analysis.Results11 research domains were identified and prioritised: Health-seeking behaviour; Health system research; Health service provision; Mother and child health (MCH); Sexual & reproductive health; Health education; Non-communicable diseases (NCDs); Irrational drug use; Communicable diseases (CDs); Road traffic accidents; Mental health. Within these domains over 200 unique research questions were identified.ConclusionOur approach led to a comprehensive, inclusive, public health agenda for Lao PDR to realise better informed health policies. Questions on the agenda are action-oriented, originating in a desire to understand the problem so that immediate improvements can be made. The agenda is used within the MoH as a tool to fund and approve research.

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Positioning the Health Services Research Workforce for Continued Success: Recommendations from AcademyHealth Stakeholders.

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Positioning the Health Services Research Workforce for Continued Success: Recommendations from AcademyHealth Stakeholders.

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