Benchmarking Policy Brief

              Benchmarking Policy Brief

Description of Health Policy Issue

The Policy Brief highlights the action strategies which can reinforce information and strategy in the health care workforce. Urgent sustainable and practical actions that can l adequately deal with the health care workforce crisis relies on the availability of reliable information, proper research as well a robust knowledge base. Therefore research could assist the policymakers in searching for and identifying answers regarding serious policy issues. Specifically, research can contribute to finding solutions about common problems such as workforce status, degree of performance and also the issues faced by the health care workers. The Policy Brief introduces new strategies which can be used to develop effective information systems. The brief also aims to develop a firm knowledge base for the health care workforce which will guide accelerate and reinforce national action. It outlines strategies such as increased investment in technology and better research processes to optimize the health care Workforce.

Problem Statement

Most countries are currently active participants of the contemporary workplace, which is partly marked by higher global mobility of the health care workers. Furthermore, reforms in the health care realm alongside demographic as well as epidemiological changes increase the global demand for health care workers. Other factors which increase demand include technological advancements and the new health care models. These factors create the need for accurate and also timely data and information to drive precise assessment of their impact on various facets of health care. The government also need advanced research capabilities for the development of responsive strategies. They can take appropriate actions based on the information.

However, the information fragmentation in the health care workforce coupled with taking dispersion in the relevant agencies and also the inadequate staff impose significant limitations on the ability of countries to gather compile and assess relevant data.

The other challenge is that even in cases where there is adequate availability of high-quality data, policymakers still face limitations of how they use the data(Koon & Mayhew, 2013). One of the limitations concerns the lack of workforce indicators. The second limitation is the definitional issues related to occupation classifications.

Human resource research is also weak, uneven and descriptive. This problem derives from the limited systematic reviews and best practice solutions which would influence effective solutions (Naccarella, 2015). There is also the lack of collaboration among relevant organizations which limits the use of health workforce information and research policy formulation.

Strategies for Action

To address policy issues, policymakers should improve the current knowledge base of health care. Existing policies should be reviewed to ensure that they are nationwide and led by the government. Also, the systems should be improved to incorporate the Coordinated initiatives of relevant departments, partners and institutions of higher learning. The government should also provide technical and financial support for the global institutions (Senkubuge, Modisenyane & Bishaw, 2014). The plans of action should be complementary and implemented in s concurrent manner to have the highest impact. The policymakers should invest more in technology to optimize data use by equipping the agencies with the appropriate technological facilities. Currently, the health care workforce has unlimited computers which make it harder to access digital mail. These circumstances make it harder to complete tasks. Therefore increasing the investments to purchase more digital devices will result in significant returns.

The policymakers can also build local expertise and skills of the health care workforce. Nations which require a more reliable health workforce also have limited skills capacity, which makes it essential to develop technical skills by providing workforce training(Volpintesta, 2014). Exercise should go hand in hand with capacity development to appropriate agencies such as relevant ministries and licensing bodies. Concerning content, the government should provide multifaceted training to impart skills such as database management, analysis and report writing.

Capacity building by training the employees will include several benefits like a continuous collection of data alongside the availability for staff for planning and decision making. Also, the agencies can work towards the harmonization of the health workforce to incorporate the collection compilation and the analysis of data into one consistent and coherent system(Velez-Lapão, Beja & Nogueira, 2019). Aside from driving the optimized data use better harmonization will also assist in future data collection and at the same time, press the classification of different sources. Also, it would be helpful to use standard indicators to support the maintenance of the health care workforce. In turn, this database system will assist in the rapid generation of information which will help better policy decisions. Using the core indicators will also support the conversion of data and information into useful evidence.

Impact on Health Care Delivery System

These improvements will ensure that the policy decisions at the local and global levels are based on evidence. The policy improvements will also make the current strategies more responsive to the high demand for health care employees and the challenges faced to address this need. The policy improvements will also support the new approach used to build more efficient workforce management systems.

References

Koon, A., & Mayhew, S. (2013). Strengthening the health workforce and rolling out universal health coverage: the need for policy analysis. Global Health Action, 6(1), 21852. doi: 10.3402/gha.v6i0.21852

Naccarella, L. (2015). Strengthening the allied health workforce: policy, practice and research issues and opportunities. Australian Health Review, 39(3), 241. doi: 10.1071/ah14071

Senkubuge, F., Modisenyane, M., & Bishaw, T. (2014). Strengthening health systems by health sector reforms. Global Health Action, 7(1), 23568. doi: 10.3402/gha.v7.23568

Velez-Lapão, L., Beja, A., & Nogueira, P. (2019). Developing health information (HI) training programme: strengthening the public health workforce. European Journal Of Public Health, 29(Supplement_4). doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.735

Volpintesta, E. (2014). Strengthening The Primary Care Workforce. Health Affairs, 33(1), 181-181. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1387