IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v110y2013i1p6-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bringing a European perspective to the health human resources debate: A scoping study

Author

Listed:
  • Kuhlmann, Ellen
  • Batenburg, Ronald
  • Groenewegen, Peter P.
  • Larsen, Christa

Abstract

Healthcare systems across the world are increasingly challenged by workforce shortages and misdistribution of skills. Yet, no comprehensive European approach to health human resources (HHR) policy exists and action remains fragmented. This scoping study seeks to contribute to the debates by providing an overview of existing HHR research, and by exploring the challenges of a European approach with a focus on workforce planning. In terms of methods, we build on a scoping review comprising literature analysis and qualitative data gathered from policy experts. In our analysis we observe an overall lack of integrated HHR approaches as major obstacle of efficient HHR planning, and find that five dimensions of integration in HHR policy are needed: system, occupational, sector, gender, and socio-cultural integration. Increasing the analytical complexity of HHR planning models does not automatically bring about more reliable and efficient planning, as the added value of these models is highly context-dependent. Yet Europe is highly diverse and we therefore argue the need for a strategic HHR perspective that is capable of bridging many different HHR policies and planning systems, and combining national and European solutions efficiently.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuhlmann, Ellen & Batenburg, Ronald & Groenewegen, Peter P. & Larsen, Christa, 2013. "Bringing a European perspective to the health human resources debate: A scoping study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 6-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:110:y:2013:i:1:p:6-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2012.11.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851012002989
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2012.11.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Jong, Judith D. & Heiligers, Phil & Groenewegen, Peter P. & Hingstman, Lammert, 2006. "Why are some medical specialists working part-time, while others work full-time?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(2-3), pages 235-248, October.
    2. Liseckiene, Ida & Boerma, Wienke G.W. & Milasauskiene, Zemyna & Valius, Leonas & Miseviciene, Irena & Groenewegen, Peter P., 2007. "Primary care in a post-communist country 10 years later: Comparison of service profiles of Lithuanian primary care physicians in 1994 and GPs in 2004," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 105-113, September.
    3. Arah, O.A. & Ogbu, U.C. & Okeke, C.E., 2008. "Too poor to leave, too rich to stay: Developmental and global health correlates of physician migration to the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(1), pages 148-154.
    4. Dubois, Carl-Ardy & Mckee, Martin, 2006. "Cross-national comparisons of human resources for health – what can we learn?," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 59-78, January.
    5. Tomblin Murphy, Gail & Kephart, George & Lethbridge, Lynn & O'Brien-Pallas, Linda & Birch, Stephen, 2009. "Planning for what? Challenging the assumptions of health human resources planning," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(2-3), pages 225-233, October.
    6. Tomblin Murphy, Gail & Birch, Stephen & MacKenzie, Adrian & Alder, Rob & Lethbridge, Lynn & Little, Lisa, 2012. "Eliminating the shortage of registered nurses in Canada: An exercise in applied needs-based planning," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 192-202.
    7. Martineau, Tim & Decker, Karola & Bundred, Peter, 2004. ""Brain drain" of health professionals: from rhetoric to responsible action," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 1-10, October.
    8. Martineau, Tim & Willetts, Annie, 2006. "The health workforce: Managing the crisis ethical international recruitment of health professionals: will codes of practice protect developing country health systems?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 358-367, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zeytinoglu, Isik U. & Denton, Margaret & Brookman, Catherine & Plenderleith, Jennifer, 2014. "Task shifting policy in Ontario, Canada: Does it help personal support workers’ intention to stay?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 179-186.
    2. Maier, Claudia B. & Batenburg, Ronald & Birch, Stephen & Zander, Britta & Elliott, Robert & Busse, Reinhard, 2018. "Health workforce planning: which countries include nurse practitioners and physician assistants and to what effect?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1085-1092.
    3. Kroezen, Marieke & Van Hoegaerden, Michel & Batenburg, Ronald, 2018. "The Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting: Results of a European programme to improve health workforce policies," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 87-93.
    4. Kuhlmann, Ellen & Larsen, Christa, 2015. "Why we need multi-level health workforce governance: Case studies from nursing and medicine in Germany," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1636-1644.
    5. Groenewegen, Peter & Heinemann, Stephanie & Greß, Stefan & Schäfer, Willemijn, 2015. "Primary care practice composition in 34 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1576-1583.
    6. Carson, Dean B. & Schoo, Adrian & Berggren, Peter, 2015. "The ‘rural pipeline’ and retention of rural health professionals in Europe's northern peripheries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1550-1556.
    7. Pavolini, Emmanuele & Kuhlmann, Ellen, 2016. "Health workforce development in the European Union: A matrix for comparing trajectories of change in the professions," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(6), pages 654-664.
    8. Ovseiko, Pavel V. & Buchan, Alastair M., 2015. "Medical workforce education and training: A failed decentralisation attempt to reform organisation, financing, and planning in England," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1545-1549.
    9. Kuhlmann, Ellen & Groenewegen, Peter P. & Bond, Christine & Burau, Viola & Hunter, David J., 2018. "Primary care workforce development in Europe: An overview of health system responses and stakeholder views," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1055-1062.
    10. Jambroes, Marielle & Lamkaddem, Majda & Stronks, Karien & Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise, 2015. "Enumerating the preventive youth health care workforce: Size, composition and regional variation in the Netherlands," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1557-1564.
    11. Batenburg, Ronald, 2015. "Health workforce planning in Europe: Creating learning country clusters," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1537-1544.
    12. Gallagher, Jennifer E. & Eaton, Kenneth A., 2015. "Health workforce governance and oral health: Diversity and challenges in Europe," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1565-1575.
    13. Kroezen, Marieke & Dussault, Gilles & Craveiro, Isabel & Dieleman, Marjolein & Jansen, Christel & Buchan, James & Barriball, Louise & Rafferty, Anne Marie & Bremner, Jeni & Sermeus, Walter, 2015. "Recruitment and retention of health professionals across Europe: A literature review and multiple case study research," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(12), pages 1517-1528.
    14. Correia, Tiago & Gomes, Inês & Nunes, Patrícia & Dussault, Gilles, 2020. "Health workforce monitoring in Portugal: Does it support strategic planning and policy-making?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 303-310.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James Avoka Asamani & Christmal Dela Christmals & Gerda Marie Reitsma, 2021. "Advancing the Population Needs-Based Health Workforce Planning Methodology: A Simulation Tool for Country Application," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Stephen Birch, 2015. "Improving the Fiscal and Political Sustainability of Health Systems through Integrated Population Needs-Based Planning," Seminar Briefing 001616, Office of Health Economics.
    3. Arnaud Bourgain & Patrice Pieretti & Benteng Zou, 2008. "The Shortage of Medical Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and Substitution Policy," DEM Discussion Paper Series 08-13, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    4. Okeke, Edward N., 2013. "Brain drain: Do economic conditions “push” doctors out of developing countries?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 169-178.
    5. Evgenia Anastasiou & Georgia Anagnostou & George Theodossiou & Vasileios Papamargaritis, 2020. "Physicians' Brain Drain: Investigating the Determinants to Emigrate Through Empirical Evidence," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 13(2), pages 83-92, September.
    6. Evi Sachini & Nikolaos Karampekios & Charalampos Chrysomallidis, 2020. "Introducing Human Capital in Greek Higher Education Institutes in the Postcrisis Era. The Case of the “Acquisition of Academic Teaching Experience for New Scientists” Public Initiative," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1630-1645, December.
    7. Varas-Díaz, Nelson & Rodríguez-Madera, Sheilla & Padilla, Mark & Rivera-Bustelo, Kariela & Mercado-Ríos, Claudia & Rivera-Custodio, Joshua & Matiz-Reyes, Armando & Santiago-Santiago, Adrián & González, 2023. "On leaving: Coloniality and physician migration in Puerto Rico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    8. Dr. Sukhan Jackson & Kamalakanthan, Abhayaprada, 2006. "The Supply of Doctors in Australia: Is There A Shortage?," Discussion Papers Series 341, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    9. Robin Gauld & Simon Horsburgh, 2016. "Does a host country capture knowledge of migrant doctors and how might it? A study of UK doctors in New Zealand," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(1), pages 1-8, January.
    10. Sutton, Claire & Prowse, Julie & McVey, Lynn & Elshehaly, Mai & Neagu, Daniel & Montague, Jane & Alvarado, Natasha & Tissiman, Chris & O'Connell, Kate & Eyers, Emma & Faisal, Muhammad & Randell, Rebec, 2023. "Strategic workforce planning in health and social care – an international perspective: A scoping review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    11. Zeytinoglu, Isik U. & Denton, Margaret & Davies, Sharon & Plenderleith, Jennifer Millen, 2009. "Casualized employment and turnover intention: Home care workers in Ontario, Canada," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 258-268, August.
    12. Groenewegen, Peter P. & Dourgnon, Paul & Greß, Stefan & Jurgutis, Arnoldas & Willems, Sara, 2013. "Strengthening weak primary care systems: Steps towards stronger primary care in selected Western and Eastern European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 170-179.
    13. Robin Gauld & Simon Horsburgh, 2016. "Does a host country capture knowledge of migrant doctors and how might it? A study of UK doctors in New Zealand," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(1), pages 1-8, January.
    14. Stephen Birch & Gail Tomblin Murphy & Adrian MacKenzie & William Whittaker & Thomas Mason, 2017. "Will the Need‐Based Planning of Health Human Resources Currently Undertaken in Several Countries Lead to Excess Supply and Inefficiency? A Comment on Basu and Pak," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 818-821, June.
    15. Chojnicki, Xavier & Moullan, Yasser, 2018. "Is there a ‘pig cycle’ in the labour supply of doctors? How training and immigration policies respond to physician shortages," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 227-237.
    16. Martineau, Tim & Willetts, Annie, 2006. "The health workforce: Managing the crisis ethical international recruitment of health professionals: will codes of practice protect developing country health systems?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 358-367, February.
    17. Mihi-Ramírez Antonio & García Rodríguez Yolanda & Metelski Dominik, 2015. "Economic Factors Concerning The Migration Of The Best Educated Workers. The Case Of College Teachers / Wpływ Czynników Ekonomicznych na Migrację Pracowników z Wysokimi Kwalifikacjami. Przykład Pracown," Comparative Economic Research, Sciendo, vol. 18(4), pages 99-122, December.
    18. Adebusola Adebayo & Oluwaseun Oladapo Akinyemi, 2022. "“What Are You Really Doing in This Country?”: Emigration Intentions of Nigerian Doctors and Their Policy Implications for Human Resource for Health Management," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1377-1396, September.
    19. Tomblin Murphy, Gail & Birch, Stephen & MacKenzie, Adrian & Alder, Rob & Lethbridge, Lynn & Little, Lisa, 2012. "Eliminating the shortage of registered nurses in Canada: An exercise in applied needs-based planning," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 192-202.
    20. Kevin J. A. Thomas, 2016. "Highly Skilled Migration from Africa to the US: Exit Mechanisms, Demographic Determinants, and the Role of Socioeconomic Trends," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(6), pages 825-849, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:110:y:2013:i:1:p:6-13. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.