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BACKGROUND: Mental, neurological, and substance abuse (MNS) disorders describe a range of conditions that affect the brain and cause distress or functional impairment. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), MNS disorders make up 10.88 percent of the burden of disease as measured in disability-adjusted life years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the main providers of mental health services and one of the largest contributors to mental health research in the region. Within the past decade, mental health resources and services has increased. METHODS: We employ a needs-based workforce estimate as a planning exercise to arrive at the total number of psychiatrists, nurses, and psychosocial care providers needed to meet the epidemiological need of mental health conditions of the population of KSA. Estimates for a potential mental health workforce gap were calculated using five steps: Step 1-Quantify target population for priority mental health conditions. Step 2-Identify number of expected cases per year. Step 3-Set target service coverage for each condition. Step 4-Estimate cost-effective health care service resource utilization for each condition. Step 5-Estimate service resources needed for each condition. RESULTS: The planning exercise indicates an epidemiologic need for a total of 17,100 full-time-equivalent (FTE) health care providers to treat priority MNS disorders. KSA appears to have a need-based shortage of 10,400 health workers to treat mental disorders. A total of 100 psychiatrists, 5700 nurses, and 4500 psychosocial care providers would be additionally needed (that is, above and beyond current levels) to address the priority mental health conditions. The shortfall is particularly severe for nurses and psychosocial workers who make up 98.9 percent of the shortfall. This shortage is substantial when compared to other high-income countries. Overall, the workforce needed to treat MNS conditions translates to 49.2 health workers per 100,000 population. CONCLUSION: Challenges to addressing the shortfall are Saudi specific which includes awareness of cultural customs and norms in the medical setting. These challenges are compounded by the lack of Saudi nationals in the mental health workforce. Saudi nationals make up 29.5 percent of the physician workforce and 38.8 percent of the nursing workforce. Policymakers and planners supplement this shortfall with non-Saudi providers, who must be mindful of Saudi-specific cultural considerations. Potential solutions to reducing the shortfall of mental health care workers includes nurse task shifting and training of general practitioners to screen for, and treat, a subset of MNS disorders.

Nowadays, the manufacturing sector needs higher levels of flexibility to confront the extremely volatile market. Accordingly, exploiting both machine and workforce reconfigurability as two critical sources of flexibility is advantageous. In this regard, for the first time, this paper explores an integrated production scheduling and workforce planning problem in a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) benefiting from reconfigurable machines and human-robot collaboration. A new Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model and an efficient Constraint Programming (CP) model are developed to formulate the problem, minimising the makespan as the performance metric. Due to the high complexity of the problem, the MILP model cannot handle large-sized instances. Hence, to evaluate the performance of the CP model in large-sized instances, a lower bound is derived based on the relaxation of the problem. Finally, extensive computational experiments are carried out to assess the performance of the devised MILP and CP models and provide general recommendations for managers dealing with such a complex problem. The results reveal the superiority of the CP model over the MILP model in small- and medium-sized instances. Moreover, the CP model can find high-quality solutions for large-sized instances within a reasonable computational time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of warehouse expenses is driven by labour cost. Therefore, efficient management of labour resources is required. To do so, workforce planning is used to match the workforce capacity with the incoming workload. While doing so, it is often wrongly assumed that each worker has the same and constant capacity or performance. Addressing this, we build a model to predict the employee-based productivity of newly hired warehouse personnel that will support workforce planning by incorporating multiple data sources. To this end,wedevelop a framework to identify relevant variables in four categories: warehouse, operator, shift and product. We demonstrate that Extreme Gradient Boosting, using these variables may reduce the root mean squared error of the prediction by more than 50%. A comprehensive scenario analysis shows that improving productivity predictions translates into substantial cost savings. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis identifies which variable categories should be favoured in the data collection process to achieve the best prediction results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPACT: To meet the future fitness of a changing public service, local government practitioners and public managers can advance more values-based approaches that are responsive to workforce planning needs and more accessible to the communities that they serve. First, co-designing human-centric public services with users to target genuine areas of need. Second, promoting good governance to embrace partnership and spread public service financial risk in finding sustainable solutions to real world complex challenges. Third, leveraging data-driven technologies that informs public service decision-making on areas of performance and improvement. Fourth, investing in training and lifelong learning to promote continuous professional development and building capacity to equip public workers with the skills for innovation is crucial. Finally, to attract gender equality, diversity and inclusion in public service recruitment strategies a more balanced approach to conflicting 'care' and 'control' practices. The authors reflect on their combined dialogues of public service innovation with local political leaders and combined authorities as a useful tool for policy-makers and practitioners in delivering a future fit-for-purpose public service. They consider this through a consideration of 'How should we recruit and retain a public service fit for purpose and what will it look like?' This thought-provoking question, initially posed in 'Public Money & Management' by Massey (2023), highlights a fast-moving and unpredictable public service landscape which is under threat from persistent financial under-investment and exposed to alarming and complex 21st-century global social, economic, political and environmental challenges. This new development article contributes to ongoing academic and policy debates on the importance of public service innovation and recruitment to advance so-called 'inclusive societies' (OECD, 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Quantitative methods for estimating the workload of primary healthcare (PHC) workers are essential for improving the performance of PHC institutions. However, measuring the workload of PHC workers is challenging due to the diverse and complex range of services covered by PHC. This study aims to use an equivalent value (EV)-based approach to assess the workload of PHC workers and inform policymakers about the current workload burden in Beijing, China. Methods: The EV-based workload assessment system was designed by three main steps: identifying the list of essential PHC service items provided by PHC workers, quantifying the EV of each service item, and calculating the corresponding workload for PHC workers and community health centers (CHCs). The study included 18 CHCs, which were divided into three groups based on population density and topography: Group I (eight urban CHCs), Group II (six CHCs in semi-mountainous areas), and Group III (four CHCs in mountainous areas). Data were collected from local health information system, which automatically collected real-time service volume data for 500 PHC service items at 18 CHCs in the sample district in Beijing from 2017 to 2021. Results: This study identified 503 essential PHC service items and defined their EVs. The theoretical full-capacity workload per PHC worker was 6024 EVs, serving as the base workload. The actual annual workload per PHC worker was 7240.0 EVs during 2017–2021. The base workload per budgeted position for the three types of CHCs was 6468.6 EVs for Group I, 5268.5 EVs for Group II, and 5038.7 EVs for Group III. Compared with the actual workload of 7702.3 EVs, 6568.3 EVs, and 5979.0 EVs in each group, respectively, all PHC workers in the sample district were overburdened during the study period. Conclusions: The EV-based method provides a feasible solution for comprehensively assessing the workload of publicly funded PHC institutions in other regions. This study offers valuable insights to help local policymakers understand the workload burden of PHC workers, objectively evaluate their performance, and guide future health workforce planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa faces both under- and over-nutrition, highlighting the need for prioritizing nutrition services. Registered dietitians are crucial for delivering appropriate and quality nutrition services. Consequently, this case study employs the World Health Organization evidence-based Workload Indicators of Staffing Need to ascertain the requisite dietetic workforce needed at central and tertiary public hospitals in South Africa. Head dietitians from 21 of 22 central and tertiary public hospitals participated in an online survey to provide data and consensus on workload components and activity standards via Delphi technique. Data were analyzed using the World Health Organisation Workload Indicators of Staffing Need software. Dietetic staffing needs were determined based on the difference between existing and required numbers of dietitians. WISN ratio was used as a metric to gauge dietitians' workload pressure. Majority (95%) of hospitals experienced dietetic staff shortages and few (14%) had requisite staff to cover basic health services. Majority (76%) exhibited a WISN ratio below 0.5, indicating fullfilment of less than 50% of staff requirements. Based on the Workload Indicators of Staffing Need, dietitians in South African central and tertiary public hospitals experience high workload pressures due to extreme understaffing. The results can guide future profession workforce planning to facilitate enhanced nutrition outcomes in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why you should read this article: » To understand the barriers to recruitment and retention in forensic mental health inpatient services » To learn how practice development can enhance the experiences of students and newly registered nurses » To find out more about how to offer effective preceptorship support to newly registered nurses. Recruitment and retention are pressing challenges in mental health nursing and there are specific barriers to recruitment and retention in forensic inpatient services. One inpatient forensic service in England sought to address these challenges through a preceptorship support project using practice development to engage with mental health nursing students and newly registered mental health nurses. Since the start of the project, 24 newly registered nurses have joined the service and a further 9 joined it in September 2024. Although it is not possible to determine a direct causal relationship, it would appear that the project has enhanced recruitment and retention. Mental health services experiencing recruitment and retention challenges could use a similar method to understand and address the barriers to working in their setting experienced by nursing students and newly registered nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A shift system implementation is usually required in scheduling security services which also causes important managerial challenges due to the necessity of the 7 days-24 hours continuous nature of the corresponding services. In the construction of a shift schedule, it is also necessary to consider some criteria about the humanitarian issues, such as the equality of not only the number of workdays but also the number of shifts for each person as well as the ones imposed by the corresponding labor law legislation usually about the maximum number of workdays and shift transitions. Construction of an ideal schedule for security services under the aforementioned constraints is thus a challenging task, especially for the large-sized real-life problems due to the increases in both the number of people and the length of the planning horizon. An idea to deal with the curse of dimensionality in the shiftscheduling problem is dividing a planning horizon into shorter periods, which might reduce problem size significantly; however, it also requires a flexible approach for relating the solutions of the consecutive periods. Such a flexible approach for relating the corresponding schedules of the consecutive periods is proposed in this study where we propose an integer-goal programming formulation that efficiently handles the issue. We also illustrate its performance on a real-life problem involving the construction of the monthly schedules in a year for a security team of a hundred people. It is noted from the computational experiments that the proposed formulation is able to construct the corresponding monthly schedules in a few minutes, implying its potential for use real-life shift scheduling problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the crucial role of strategic human resource management and leadership in preparing workforces for the artificial intelligence (AI) and automation age. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a conceptual approach, reviewing existing literature, drawing insights from industry experts, and real-world examples to develop a framework for preparing and sustaining workforces for the AI era. Findings: The paper finds that successfully integrating AI and automation in the workforce requires a proactive and strategic approach from HR leaders, emphasising the critical importance of aligning AI and automation strategies with overall business goals through strategic workforce planning. Developing an AI-literate and adaptable workforce is crucial for embracing AI-driven changes, necessitating the creation of new AI-centric roles and career pathways, innovative job models, and comprehensive upskilling programs. HR must act as a translator between humans and machines, fostering seamless collaboration, addressing cultural and ethical implications, and leading the charge. Research limitations/implications: The paper relies primarily on conceptual arguments and anecdotal evidence from industry experts. Practical implications: The paper provides actionable insights for HR leaders to foster sustainable AI transitions within workforces. Social implications: The paper highlights the potential social implications such as job displacement concerns and the need for reskilling and upskilling initiatives. It emphasises the importance of proactively addressing these concerns through clear communication, job security measures, and learning and development opportunities. Originality/value: The paper offers a fresh perspective on the role of HR in the AI era, positioning HR leaders as strategic enablers of sustainable human-machine collaboration. It synthesises insights from various sources to provide a comprehensive framework for workforce preparation, emphasising the importance of aligning AI adoption with workforce development initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Primary healthcare has emerged as a powerful global concept, but little attention has been directed towards the pivotal role of the healthcare workforce and the diverse institutional setting in which they work. This study aims to bridge the gap between the primary healthcare policy and the ongoing healthcare workforce crisis debate by introducing a health system and governance approach to identify capacities that may help respond effectively to the HCWF crisis in health system contexts. Methods: A qualitative comparative methodology was employed, and a rapid assessment of the primary healthcare workforce was conducted across nine countries: Denmark, Germany, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom/ England. Results: Our findings reveal both convergence and pronounced diversity across the healthcare systems, with none fully aligning with the ideal attributes of primary healthcare suggested by WHO. However, across all categories, Denmark, the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent Kazakhstan, depict closer alignment to this model than the other countries. Workforce composition and skill-mix vary strongly, while disparities persist in education and data availability, particularly within Social Health Insurance systems. Policy responses and interventions span governance, organisational, and professional realms, although with weaknesses in the implementation of policies and a systematic lack of data and evaluation. Conclusions: Aligning primary healthcare and workforce considerations within the broader health system context may help move the debate forward and build governance capacities to improve resilience in both areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to investigate the trends in otology, rhinology, and head and neck (H&N) operations over the past decade in England. These trends will allow for predictive modelling to forecast the demand over the coming years to aid workforce and resource planning in ENT. Methods: Hospital Episode Statistics data were extracted between April 2012 and April 2023. A total of 121 otology, 114 rhinology, and 122 H&N procedure codes were included. Correlation and linear regression analyses were conducted to examine trends and produce a forecast model for the volume of operations. Results: A gradual upward trend in the volume of operations was observed in rhinology, with a positive correlation coefficient (R = 0.74). In contrast, otology (R = −0.67) and H&N (R= −0.75) showed negative trends, indicating a moderate decline in operational volumes over time. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted operating activity in rhinology and otology. To address the backlog and reach the pre-pandemic forecasted levels within the next five years, surgical capacity must increase by an additional 33,807 rhinology 25,486 otology, and 10,300 head procedures per year in England. Conclusions: This analysis highlights a need for prioritization and expansion of the ENT workforce and resources to manage the current backlog and anticipated increase in demand over the next five years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, female participation in the construction sector has increased in recent decades; however, it remains significantly lower than that of men. Several studies have identified the barriers and challenges that women face throughout their careers in this industry. Nevertheless, in the Chilean context, academic research on this topic is limited. This study aims to address this gap by identifying the obstacles women encounter to stay within the construction industry in Chile. A quantitative analysis was conducted on responses from a survey by 111 industry professionals, including men and women. The data were analyzed using survey analysis and independence tests, focusing on five key factors: gender, age, years of experience, number of children, and marital status. The results indicated that gender is the most influential factor, followed by age and family situation, highlighting issues such as difficulty balancing personal and work life, job dissatisfaction, and long working hours. Our findings may contribute to public entities and decision-makers to formulate specific gender-oriented policies in construction. For instance, the inclusion of the concept of "woman-hour," analogous to "man-hour," in human resource budgets in construction is suggested, which would facilitate greater equity in workforce planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of strategic planning practices can offer insight into how universities operate and are structured as organisations, both in terms of where importance is placed and what is elided, and through discursive consideration of how strategy texts legitimate certain ways of thinking and acting and seek to produce consent around managerial decisions. This paper applies a strategy-as-practice approach (Jarzabkowski and Whittington in Journal of Management Inquiry, 17, 282-286, 2008) to explore how the academic workforce in English universities is conceptualised and represented in institutional strategic planning, specifically in the genre of text referred to as a strategic plan or strategy document. Through qualitative content analysis of a sample of eight university strategic plans (following Brandtner et al., in Urban Studies, 54, 1075-1091, 2016; Hellström in Policy Futures in Education,5, 478-490, 2007), we find the academic workforce occupying an uncertain position in the documents, especially in the case of staff with teaching responsibilities, whose position is particularly ambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medicine shortages are a global problem. Prior studies have focused on hospitals, and staff views, with less information on community practice. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of medicine shortages in community pharmacies and potential impact on patients. Method: Four community pharmacies (two urban, two rural) in Ireland recorded details of prescription request shortages per items dispensed. Data were gathered one study day per month from February to April 2023. A prevalence across sites was estimated and trends examined using a Poisson regression. Results: There were 76 medicine requests defined as shortages out of 3734 prescription item requests, giving a mean shortage prevalence of 2% (95% CI 1.6–2.5%). There was a non-significant, 17%, increase in shortage rate across the study period (p = 0.256). Higher rates were observed in the two urban pharmacies. In total, 61/76 (80%) of shortages were associated with a delay in patient treatment. Conclusion: Shortages are prevalent in community pharmacy and cause delays in patient treatment and increase in workload of pharmacy staff. Regulatory initiatives to address the issue at a manufacturer level have been proposed, although workforce planning, resourcing and professional role expansion are also required to protect pharmacy staff and patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the adequacy of the Northern Territory health workforce with respect to population size and burden of disease, overall and by selected health specialties; to assess its sustainability by investigating changes in workforce numbers. Study design: Analysis of Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) health workforce data (2013–2021) and burden of disease data (disability‐adjusted life‐years, DALYs) drawn from national and NT burden of disease studies (and projected for 2019–2021). Setting, participants: NT and Australian health workforces, 2009–2021. Main outcome measures: Adequacy of the NT health workforce, assessed as the ratio of the mean annual numbers of NT health workers per 1000 population or health workers per 1000 DALYs (2009–2013 and 2014–2018) to those of the Australian workforce (2013 and 2018); sustainability of the NT health workforce, defined as the number of health workers per 1000 population or per 1000 DALYs increasing between 2013 and 2021. Results: The number of health workers per 1000 population was slightly higher in the NT than for Australia in both time periods (2009–2013 v 2013: 23.30 v 21.79 per 1000 population, 6.9% larger; 2014–2018 v 2018: 25.79 v 23.47 per 1000 population, 9.9% larger); however, it was smaller with respect to burden of disease (2009–2013 v 2013: 82.6 v 107.4 health workers per 1000 DALYs, 23.1% fewer; 2014–2018 v 2018: 91.5 v 117.1 per 1000 DALYs, 21.8% fewer). In particular, 464 more nurses and midwives (11.4% more than the mean for 2013–2021), 196 more physiotherapists (115%), 189 more psychologists (102%), 152 more pharmacists (79%), and 144 more dentists (106%) are needed in the NT to match the corresponding numbers of health workers by disease burden for Australia as a whole. The number of Aboriginal health practitioners per 100 000 DALYs fell during the study period. Conclusion: Health worker population density alone does not reliably assess health workforce needs; burden of disease information is important for workforce planning that meets population health needs. The NT health workforce needs to be increased by about 28% to reflect the population burden of disease and injury. Shortages in the NT health workforce must be eliminated to close health gaps between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The article presents an original methodology for assessing employee predispositions to three types of work: manual, manual-machine, and automatic. The aim of the methodology is to reduce employee turnover and improve retention in manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted on a group of 31 newly employed people in a manufacturing plant in Poland, of whom 11 employees resigned within the first 30 days of employment. The results of the predisposition assessment were analyzed to identify the factors that influence an employee to quit. Findings: The conclusions indicate that employees with lower predisposition assessment results were more likely to leave the company, while higher results were correlated with greater retention. The original methodology for assessing predispositions, including various aspects of manual, sensory, and logical-analytical work, aims to better match employees to appropriate positions. Practical implications: The proposed methodology can be applied by HR and production managers to improve hiring and retention in manufacturing. By assessing employee predispositions early on, companies can match individuals to roles better suited to their skills, potentially leading to higher job satisfaction, lower turnover, and reduced recruitment costs. This approach also aids in identifying employees more likely to succeed in specific environments, facilitating better workforce planning. Originality/value: This unique methodology contributes to improving job satisfaction and reducing turnover costs by aligning employee predispositions with suitable job roles in manufacturing environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Trauma and Orthopaedic (T&O) surgery has come under scrutiny for lagging behind other medical specialties in promoting gender and cultural equity and diversity within their workforce. The proportions of female, ethnic minority, and sexual and gender minority individuals within orthopaedic membership bodies are disproportionate to the populations they serve. The aim of this study is to report the findings of a national workforce survey of demographics and working patterns within T&O in Scotland. Methods: A questionnaire devised by a working group was delivered by the Client Analyst and Relationship Development (CARD) group. Utilizing a secure third party ensured anonymity for all respondents. Data were recorded and analyzed by the CARD group. Results: A total of 353 responses were recorded, representing 71% of the known workforce. Overall, 261 respondents (74%) identified as male, 85 (24%) female, and seven (2%) preferred not to say. For specialist trainee (ST)3 to ST6, 148 (42%) were female, and for ST7 to ST8, 131 (37%) were female. In total, 226 of all respondents (64%) were white-British, 35 (10%) were white-European, and 92 (26%) were of an ethnic minority background. A total of 321 of respondents (91%) identified as heterosexual, 14 (4%) preferred not to say, and 18 (5%) identified as LGBTQ+ or preferred to self-describe. Conclusion: This is the largest national workforce survey in contemporary surgical literature. The findings demonstrate a greater proportion of female surgeons overall compared to other studies in T&O. This proportion of females was highest among more junior trainees. The Scottish T&O workforce is more ethnically diverse than the demographics of the population it serves. This study suggests that T&O in Scotland is an evolving speciality in terms of equality and diversity, and is making positive progress. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2025;6(1):103–108.

Zhichao Zhu,* Weiheng Zheng,* Nan Tang, Weimei Zhong Human Resource Department, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Nan Tang; Weimei Zhong, Email phoebetn@outlook.com; zhongweimei_023@163.comAbstract: Background: Hospital manpower management (HRM) is vital for effective healthcare delivery. Unique challenges, such as managing diverse staff, ensuring clear communication, and optimizing resources, complicate HRM. Rising operational costs, workforce shortages, and employee burnout necessitate strategic approaches to manpower management. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of manpower management in hospitals, focusing on identifying core components and discussing innovative strategies to address current challenges, particularly those related to workforce shortages. A literature review was conducted using databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Key terms included “hospital manpower management”, “HRM challenges in healthcare”, and “workforce shortages”, selected for their relevance to the core focus of this review. Relevant articles published from 2019 to 2023 were selected for analysis. The review identified core components of manpower management: recruitment and staffing, workforce planning, training and development, performance management, and compensation and benefits. Strategies to address workforce shortages included strategic hiring and enhancing employee engagement. The integration of technology and ongoing training emerged as critical for maintaining high-quality patient care. Effective manpower management is essential for the sustainability of healthcare systems. This review highlighted the importance of innovative HRM strategies to tackle workforce shortages and improve employee satisfaction. By focusing on comprehensive HRM practices, healthcare organizations could enhance workforce efficiency and provide better patient care. Future research should explore the long-term impacts of these strategies on healthcare.Keywords: hospital manpower management, workforce shortages, HRM challenges in healthcare, workforce planning

Abstract Background The composition of care teams is crucial for delivering patient-centered healthcare, yet assembling a well-balanced team remains a challenge. This difficulty stems from the intricate dynamics of team capacity, culture, context, and the demands of the job. The current literature offers limited guidance for decision-makers on how to effectively navigate these dynamics to compose a balanced care team. Methods We conducted a systematic scoping review of literature spanning from 2009 to 2022. The aim was to identify factors that significantly influence the work environment, team performance, nursing outcomes, and patient outcomes within healthcare settings. Our review focused on extracting and synthesizing evidence to uncover these influencing factors. Results Our analysis identified 35 factors that play a significant role in shaping the work environment and influencing team performance, nursing outcomes, and patient outcomes. These factors were categorized into nine key domains: workload, leadership, team composition, stress and demands, professional relationships, safety, logistics and ergonomics, autonomy and responsibility, and transparency and task clearness. Conclusions To improve patient care and nursing job satisfaction, policymakers and decision-makers can consider these influencing factors in the design and management of care teams. The findings advocate for strategic adjustments in these domains to enhance a team’s balance. Furthermore, our review underscores the need for further research to fill the identified gaps in knowledge, offering a directive for future studies into optimal care team composition. This systematic approach to team composition can significantly impact patient outcomes and nurse satisfaction, providing a roadmap for creating more effective and harmonious teams.

Abstract Background The centrality of human resources in the provision of healthcare suggests that Human Resource (HR) management and the use of Human Resource analytics – use of digital data to better understand, assess, plan and organize the workforce - can play an important role in this. However, data driven decision making in the field of human resource management is lagging, and the appropriation of HR analytics in the healthcare sector is limited. Aim The current study explores the role of HR departments and the adoption of Human Resource analytics in four municipalities in Norway to obtain insights into what influences the use or lack of use of HR analytics. Methods Empirical data were generated through qualitative interviews with fourteen individuals working in HR departments, the municipal administration, and the healthcare services. Structurational theory guided the analysis. The findings show that none of the municipalities made extensive use of data to inform decision making related to human resource management or workforce planning. Results and conclusion Three conditions hampered or made irrelevant the use of HR analytics: a decoupling between the services and HR, a weak data-culture, and HR and decision-making processes involving a plurality of stakeholders. However, there were changes underway in all municipalities related to the role of HR and HR analytics.

Background: Current methods for oral health workforce planning lack responsiveness to dynamic needs, hampering efficiency, equity and sustainability. Effective workforce planning is vital for resilient health care systems and achieving universal health coverage. Given this context, we developed and operationalised a needs-adaptive oral health workforce planning model and explored the potential of various future scenarios. Methods: Using publicly available data, including the Special Eurobarometer 330 Oral Health Survey, we applied the model in a hypothetical context focusing on the Dutch population's dental needs from 2022 to 2050. We compared current and future provider supply and requirement and examined, in addition to a base case scenario, several alternative scenarios. These included epidemiological transition scenarios with different oral health morbidity trajectories, skill-mix scenarios with independent oral hygienists conducting check-ups and multiple dental student intake and training duration (5 instead of 6 years) scenarios. Results: Based on the aforementioned historical data, our model projects that provider requirement will exceed supply for the planning period. If the percentage of people having all natural teeth increases by 10% or 20% in 2032, 34 or 68 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) dentists will be required, respectively, compared to the base case scenario. In the skill-mix scenario, the model indicates that prioritising oral hygienists for check-ups and shifting dentists' focus to primarily complex care could address population needs more efficiently. Among the student intake and training duration scenarios, increasing intake to 375 and, to a lesser extent, reducing training to 5 years is projected to most effectively close the provider gap. Conclusions: The study underscores the importance of understanding oral health morbidity trajectories for effective capacity planning. Due to limited dental epidemiological data, projections carry substantial uncertainty. Currently, demand for FTE dentists seems to exceed supply, though this may vary with epidemiological changes. Skill-mix strategies could offer efficiency gains by redistributing tasks, while adjustments in dental intake and training duration could also help address the requirement-supply gap. Resolving dentistry workforce challenges requires a multifaceted approach, including strengthening oral epidemiology projections, addressing the root causes of dental health issues and prioritising harmonious dental public health and general practice prevention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the challenges relating to the integration of soft skill development with recruitment and retention strategies in small and micro businesses of a small island state. Recruitment and retention play an important role in the development of such skills, which make an impact on the effectiveness of employees in today's workforce and the adaptability of organizations in a competitive market. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses qualitative methodology, collecting data from 14 semi-structured interviews, and uses constant comparative analysis to derive findings. The process is facilitated by MAXQDA software. Findings: Findings indicate that organizations are faced with challenges in recruiting candidates with both technical and soft skills. Once the right candidate is recruited, efforts are made to retain staff by enhancing soft skills and their development despite challenges encountered in the process by owner-managers and human resource consultants. Originality/value: The paper's originality lies in the intensive investigation of challenges relating to recruitment and retention of employees and of the development strategies used as part of the employee lifecycle. Further, this paper studies the small and micro businesses of a small island state, which are generally overlooked in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, logistics service providers (LSPs) increasingly consider using a crowdsourced workforce on the last mile to fulfill customers' expectations regarding same-day or on-demand delivery at reduced costs. The crowdsourced workforce's availability is, however, uncertain. Therefore, LSPs often hire additional fixed employees to perform deliveries when the availability of crowdsourced drivers is low. In this context, the reliability versus flexibility trade-off which LSPs face over a longer period, for example, a year, remains unstudied. Against this background, we jointly study a workforce planning problem that considers salaried drivers (SDs) and the temporal development of the crowdsourced driver (CD) fleet over a long-term time horizon. We consider two types of CDs, dedicated gig-drivers (DDs) and opportunistic gig-drivers (ODs). While DDs are not sensitive to the request's destination and typically exhibit high availability, ODs only serve requests whose origin and destination coincide with their own private route's origin and destination. Moreover, to account for time horizon-specific dynamics, we consider stochastic turnover for both SDs and CDs as well as stochastic CD fleet growth. We formulate the resulting workforce planning problem as a Markov decision process whose reward function reflects total costs, that is, wages and operational costs arising from serving demand with SDs and CDs, and solve it via approximate dynamic programming. Applying our approach to an environment based on real-world demand data from GrubHub, we find that in fleets consisting of SDs and CDs, approximate dynamic programming (ADP)-based hiring policies can outperform myopic hiring policies by up to 19 % and lookahead policies with perfect knowledge of future information by up to 10 % in total costs. In the studied setting, we observed that DDs reduce the LSP's total costs more than ODs. When we account for CDs' increased resignation probability when not being matched with enough requests, the amount of required SDs increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many hospitalised patients require rehabilitation during recovery from acute illness. We use routine data from Electronic Health Records (EHR) to report the quantity and intensity of rehabilitation required to achieve hospital discharge, comparing patients with and without COVID-19. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of consecutive adults in whom COVID-19 testing was undertaken between March 2020 and August 2021 across three acute hospitals in Scotland. We defined rehabilitation contacts (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics and speech and language therapy) from timestamped EHR data and determined contact time from a linked workforce planning dataset. Our aim was to clarify rehabilitation required to achieve hospital discharge and so we excluded patients who died during their admission, and those who did not require rehabilitation (fewer than two specialist contacts). The primary outcome was total rehabilitation time. Secondary outcomes included the number of contacts, admission to first contact, and rehabilitation minutes per day. A multivariate regression analysis for identifying patient characteristics associated with rehabilitation time included age, sex, comorbidities, and socioeconomic status. Results: We included 11,591 consecutive unique patient admissions (76 [63,85] years old, 56% female), of which 651 (6%) were with COVID-19, and 10,940 (94%) were admissions with negative testing. There were 128,646 rehabilitation contacts. Patients with COVID-19 received more than double the rehabilitation time compared to those without (365 [165, 772] vs 170 [95, 350] mins, p<0.001), and this was delivered over more specialist contacts (12 [6, 25] vs 6 [3, 11], p<0.001). Admission to first rehabilitation contact was later in patients with COVID-19 (3 [1, 5] vs 2 [1, 4] days from admission). Overall, patients with COVID-19 received fewer minutes of rehabilitation per day of admission (14.1 [9.8, 18.7] vs 15.6 [10.6, 21.3], p<0.001). In our regression analyses, older age and COVID-19 were associated with increased rehabilitation time. Conclusions: Patients with COVID received more rehabilitation contact time than those without COVID, but this was delivered less intensively and was commenced later in an admission. Rehabilitation data derived from the EHR represents a novel measure of delivered hospital care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yellow noodle SMEs face the challenge of aligning their workforce with the fluctuating customer demand. Addressing this issue involves scaling up production staffing during peak yellow noodle demand. This study aimed to determine when and how much production labor should be added. Workforce expansion occurred through contractual arrangements during demand surges. This study used the K-Means clustering method to determine demand clusters. Each cluster underwent detailed analysis to calculate the precise number of required production workers. The study used the noodle sales in 2021--2022. Results showed that yellow noodle SMEs had eight permanent workers. Demand clusters were categorized into three classes. High-demand periods were observed in May and December, while moderate demand occurred in January, February, March, April, June, July, and August. September, October, and November constituted the low-demand cluster. Based on these findings, the study recommended adding one worker during high-demand and moderate-demand periods to maintain operational efficiency. Remarkably, no workforce additions were advised during the low-demand phase to optimize resource allocation and cost-effectiveness. In summary, this research addresses labor management challenges for yellow noodle SMEs. Leveraging data-driven approaches and cluster analysis offers SMEs a strategic framework to enhance workforce planning thereby improving operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent works in manpower planning interest has been awakened in modeling manpower systems in departmentalized framework. This, as a form of disaggregation, may solve the problem of observable heterogeneity but not latent heterogeneity; it rather opens up other aspects of latent heterogeneity hitherto unaccounted for in classical (non departmentalized) manpower models. In this article, a multinomial Markov-switching model is formulated for investigating latent heterogeneity in intra-departmental and interdepartmental transitions in departmentalized manpower systems. The formulation incorporates extensions of the mover-stayer principle resulting in several competing models. The best manpower model is chosen based on the optimum number of hidden states established by the use of Expectation-Maximization iterative algorithm for estimation of the model parameters and a search procedure for assessing model performance against one another. The illustration establishes the usefulness of the model formulation in highlighting hidden disparities in personnel transitions in a departmentalized manpower system and in avoiding wrong model specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to examine changes in the demographics and regions of work of Australian doctors over a period of 9 years. Methods: A retrospective study of Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration data was performed. Data were sourced from the Health Workforce Dataset Online Data Tool which was derived from annual registration data from AHPRA for 2013–2022. The demographic factors analysed were gender, age, and origin of qualification. Regions of work were defined using the Modified Monash (MM) model. Results: The number of registered doctors increased from 82,408 in 2013 to 111,908 in 2022 but mean hours worked per week decreased from 41 to 39 leading up to 2020. Trends in age and origin of qualification remained stable, but the proportion of female workers increased from 38.5% in 2013 to 44.5% in 2022. While female hours per week (~37) were consistent from 2013 to 2020, male hours per week decreased from 43 to 41. The number of registrations and total full-time equivalent (FTE) outcomes increased consistently in metropolitan (MM1) and rural (MM2–5) regions but did not increase for remote and very remote (MM6–7) regions. Conclusion: The Australian medical workforce both grew and changed between 2013 and 2022. An overall decrease in mean hours worked appears to be driven by a decline in hours worked by male workers and the increased proportion of female workers. While increased gender parity and a decrease in hours worked per week were positive outcomes, a lack of growth in the medical workforce was noted in remote and very remote regions of Australia. What is known about the topic? Changes in the medical workforce over time are likely to impact health service delivery. What does this paper add? This paper examined changes in the gender, age, origin of qualification, and the region of work of Australia's medical workforce from 2013 to 2022. What are the implications for practitioners? An increase in gender parity and a decrease in the mean hours worked suggests improvements in workforce participation and sustainability, but lack of growth in medical workforce was noted in remote and very remote regions of Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Clinical care ratios are used to quantify and benchmark the activity of allied health professionals. This study aims to review previous recommendations and identify what variables may influence them. Method: Data was collected from the core allied health professions (audiology, nutrition and dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, prosthetics and orthotics, psychology, social work and speech pathology) across eight Australian hospitals. Data for 113 staff who were casual or from smaller professions (audiology, podiatry, prosthetics and orthotics and psychology) were excluded due to insufficient numbers for analysis. The remaining data were analysed according to profession, seniority (tiers 1, 2 and 3) and employment status (permanent versus casual staff). A two-way ANOVA was performed to assess the association of clinical care ratios with tier, profession, employment status and gender. Results: Data from 1246 staff from the five larger professions at participating hospitals were analysed. There were no interactions between profession and gender (P = 0.185) or employment status (P = 0.412). The relationship between clinical care ratio and profession was modified by tier (interaction term, P = 0.014), meaning that differences in clinical care ratios between professions depended on the tier. Conclusion: This research has confirmed that clinical care ratios are a useful tool in workload management and determining staffing levels for allied health professionals. The recommendations from this research provide a starting point that can be finessed with reference to profession, model of care, workforce structure, governance and training requirements. This will lead to increased staff wellbeing and improved patient outcomes. What is known about this topic? Clinical care ratios are a useful tool to quantify, monitor and compare workloads of allied health professionals. What does this paper add? This paper confirms that clinical care ratios are a useful workforce planning tool and that when developing roles and models of care, clinical care ratios need to be incorporated into staffing requests and considered as part of workload management tools. What are the implications for practitioners? Clinical care ratios enable the quantification and benchmarking of direct and clinical support activity components of a workload and can be used when planning new services and reviewing current services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As artificial intelligence grows in informing and guiding clinical care, the need to develop strategic workforce and implementation planning is paramount. In this commentary, the authors lay out opportunities and ways in which to meet this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international recruitment of healthcare workers remains a UK strategy to manage workforce gaps and maintain service delivery. Although not a new phenomenon, this has been exacerbated by chronic shortages. There is a need to profile the current international recruits and identify individual motivators to understand the opportunities for future recruitment and retention initiatives. A UK-wide electronic survey was conducted using the Jisc platform. The survey was promoted using social media and researcher networks. Eligibility criteria were diagnostic radiographers, internationally educated, and currently working in the UK. 226 responses were received. Most were working in England (90.7%) and 58.0% were under 35 years of age. The majority had migrated having moved to the UK since 2020 (63.7%) and the main drivers were career and/or training opportunities. Initial education was in 30 different countries, the highest number originating from Africa and Asia, with a median of 6 years post-qualification experience (IQR 4–11yrs). Despite experience, most were employed in band 5 (n = 72) or band 6 posts (n = 95). 56% had postgraduate qualifications on entry and a third had undertaken postgraduate study in the UK. Based on the survey responses, the profile of internationally recruited diagnostic radiographers is relatively young but with pre-migration experience originating all over the globe. They are motivated to work in the UK particular for career progression opportunities. This study provides an insight into the motivations, demographics and employment patterns of internationally recruited radiographers working in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is little evidence and no agreement on what constitutes full-time working for GPs. This is essential for workforce planning, resource allocation, and accurately describing GP activity. Aim: To clarify the definition of full-time working for GPs, how this has changed over time, and whether these changes are explained by GP demographics. Design and setting: Data were obtained from repeated cross-sectional national surveys for GPs, which were conducted between 2010 and 2021. Method: A comparison was undertaken of three measures of working time commitments (hours and sessions per week and hours per session) plus a measure of workload intensity across survey years. Multiple regression was used to adjust the changes over time for age, sex, ethnicity, contract type, area deprivation, and rurality. Unadjusted hours and sessions per week were compared with definitions of full-time working. Results: Average hours and sessions per week reduced from 40.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 38.5 to 42.5) to 38.0 (95% CI = 36.3 to 39.6) and 7.3 (95% CI = 7.2 to 7.3) to 6.2 (95% CI = 6.2 to 6.3) between 2010 and 2021, respectively. In 2021, 54.6% of GPs worked at least 37.5 hours per week and 9.5% worked at least nine sessions. Hours per session increased from 5.7 (95% CI = 5.7 to 5.7) to 6.2 (95% CI = 6.2 to 6.3) between 2010 and 2021. Partners worked more hours, sessions, and hours per session. Adjustments expanded the increase in hours per session from 0.54 to 0.61. Conclusion: At the current average duration of sessions, six sessions per week aligns with the NHS definition of full-time hours. However, hours per week is a more consistent way to define full-time work for GPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of workforce planning for the future of sports tourism, focusing on the current state, emerging trends, key skills and competencies, strategic workforce planning models, technological innovations, and policy implications. Methods and Materials: The review employs a descriptive analysis method, systematically gathering and synthesizing existing literature from peer-reviewed journal articles, industry reports, case studies, and government publications. Key databases and sources include Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Literature selection criteria included relevance to sports tourism and workforce planning, publication within the last 15 years, and availability in English. Findings: The study identifies significant contributions of sports tourism to global economies and highlights the necessity of strategic workforce planning to support industry growth. Emerging trends such as technological advancements, sustainability, and demographic shifts require new skills and competencies. Effective workforce planning models, including demand forecasting, competency-based planning, scenario planning, and talent management, are crucial for addressing future needs. Challenges such as funding constraints, skill gaps, and sustainability issues were identified, with recommendations for overcoming these barriers through targeted strategies and interdisciplinary approaches. Conclusion: Effective workforce planning is essential for the sustainable growth of sports tourism. Embracing technological innovations, promoting sustainability, and addressing cultural competence and diversity will be key to developing a skilled and adaptable workforce. Policymakers, industry leaders, and educators must collaborate to create supportive frameworks and training programs that align with future industry demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The composition of care teams is crucial for delivering patient-centered healthcare, yet assembling a well-balanced team remains a challenge. This difficulty stems from the intricate dynamics of team capacity, culture, context, and the demands of the job. The current literature offers limited guidance for decision-makers on how to effectively navigate these dynamics to compose a balanced care team. Methods: We conducted a systematic scoping review of literature spanning from 2009 to 2022. The aim was to identify factors that significantly influence the work environment, team performance, nursing outcomes, and patient outcomes within healthcare settings. Our review focused on extracting and synthesizing evidence to uncover these influencing factors. Results: Our analysis identified 35 factors that play a significant role in shaping the work environment and influencing team performance, nursing outcomes, and patient outcomes. These factors were categorized into nine key domains: workload, leadership, team composition, stress and demands, professional relationships, safety, logistics and ergonomics, autonomy and responsibility, and transparency and task clearness. Conclusions: To improve patient care and nursing job satisfaction, policymakers and decision-makers can consider these influencing factors in the design and management of care teams. The findings advocate for strategic adjustments in these domains to enhance a team's balance. Furthermore, our review underscores the need for further research to fill the identified gaps in knowledge, offering a directive for future studies into optimal care team composition. This systematic approach to team composition can significantly impact patient outcomes and nurse satisfaction, providing a roadmap for creating more effective and harmonious teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The centrality of human resources in the provision of healthcare suggests that Human Resource (HR) management and the use of Human Resource analytics – use of digital data to better understand, assess, plan and organize the workforce - can play an important role in this. However, data driven decision making in the field of human resource management is lagging, and the appropriation of HR analytics in the healthcare sector is limited. Aim: The current study explores the role of HR departments and the adoption of Human Resource analytics in four municipalities in Norway to obtain insights into what influences the use or lack of use of HR analytics. Methods: Empirical data were generated through qualitative interviews with fourteen individuals working in HR departments, the municipal administration, and the healthcare services. Structurational theory guided the analysis. The findings show that none of the municipalities made extensive use of data to inform decision making related to human resource management or workforce planning. Results and conclusion: Three conditions hampered or made irrelevant the use of HR analytics: a decoupling between the services and HR, a weak data-culture, and HR and decision-making processes involving a plurality of stakeholders. However, there were changes underway in all municipalities related to the role of HR and HR analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aim Design Methods Results Conclusion Implications for the Profession and Patient Care Impact Reporting Method Patient or Public Contribution What does this Paper Contribute to the Wider Global Clinical Community? To describe vaccination roles of primary care nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Canada.This analysis was part of a larger mixed‐methods case study.We conducted semi‐structured qualitative interviews from May 2022 to January 2023 with primary care nurses across four provinces: British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. We asked participants to describe their roles during various stages of the pandemic, facilitators and challenges encountered and possible roles that nurses could have played. We used thematic analysis and analysed codes relevant to vaccination.We interviewed a total of 76 nurses and identified four key functions of primary care nurses' roles in COVID‐19 vaccination: (1) education, (2) vaccine administration, (3) outreach and (4) advocacy. Themes outlined nurses' roles with respect to patient education, addressing vaccine hesitancy, partaking in vaccination roles outside of regular primary care practice and supporting accessibility in COVID‐19 vaccination. Specific tasks varied by nursing professions.Primary care nurses fostered trust through existing patient–provider relationships to enhance roles and activities related to education, outreach and advocacy in COVID‐19 vaccination. Some COVID‐19 vaccine‐related roles were more easily integrated into primary care, whereas others competed with routine primary care roles.Findings highlight the vital contributions of primary care nurses towards COVID‐19 vaccination efforts in Canada. Leveraging nursing expertise can enhance future pandemic response efforts and improve patient care by addressing barriers to vaccination and promoting equitable access to vaccination services.This study addresses a knowledge gap by describing the vaccination‐related roles of primary care nurses during the pandemic. Findings illustrate that nurses demonstrated adaptability through their engagement in vaccine education, administration, outreach and advocacy. This research informs resource allocation, policy development and workforce planning for future vaccination efforts during a pandemic response.The authors have adhered to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) guidelines included in the Empirical Research Qualitative reporting method.No patient or public contribution. Provides insight into the pivotal roles of primary care nurses during the COVID‐19 vaccination efforts in Canada, highlighting their diverse contributions towards education, vaccine administration, outreach and advocacy. Offers implications for future pandemic planning by informing resource allocation, policy development and workforce planning for vaccination efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Effective medical staffing is pivotal for a successful healthcare system, demanding strategic planning to ensure a high‐quality service. Although the UK's doctor to population ratio has improved over time, it remains below global averages. The COVID‐19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges, resulting in an unprecedented NHS waiting list with Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) surgeries ranking third highest in waiting times amongst all specialties. Methods: This study utilized a national jotform survey to gather data from ENTUK members, primarily focusing on consultant staffing within ENT departments across the UK. Additional information collected encompassed registration status, part‐time roles, gender, vacancies, locum roles, associate specialists, registrars and other junior doctors, and advanced nurse practitioners. When survey responses were inadequate, direct communication was established with departmental consultants or secretaries, followed by Freedom of Information requests as necessary. All data were compiled using Microsoft Excel. Results: Among the 65 responses to the ENTUK survey, 53 individual trusts were identified. These included 41 English acute trusts, with supplementary participation from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Data from 749 consultants across 115 English acute trusts were collected in combination with a Freedom of Information request. Conclusion: Despite an increased number of ENT consultants, the persistence of unfilled posts coincides with mounting waiting lists. The pandemic's effects, including early retirements and part‐time roles, emphasise the urgency of expanding training positions to counterbalance these shifts. Local and national interventions are essential to fortify and diversify the ENT workforce through a variety of strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This study aims to provide cancer incidence and mortality estimates in 2020 in the GCC countries alongside future projections for 2040 to shape cancer control policy in the region. Methods: The estimated numbers of new cancer cases and deaths were extracted from the GLOBOCAN database developed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer; new cancer cases, cancer deaths, and corresponding age‐standardized incidence and mortality rates for the year 2020 are presented. Results: An estimated 42,475 new cancer cases and 19,895 deaths occurred in the GCC countries in 2020, with corresponding age‐standardized incidence and mortality rates of 96.5 and 52.3 per 100,000, respectively. Female breast (16%), colorectal (13%), and thyroid (9%) were the most common types of cancer in the GCC countries, accounting for almost 40% of all cancer incidence. Colorectal (14%) followed by breast cancer (9%) were the leading causes of cancer death, though the magnitude of rates of the major cancer types varied substantially across the GCC countries. Even if we assume rates in the region will remain unchanged over the next two decades, the cancer burden in the GCC will increase by 116% (Saudi Arabia) to 270% (Qatar), reaching nearly 104,000 cancer cases by the year 2040. Conclusion: The sharp increase in the estimated cancer incidence and mortality predicted over the next decades in the region requires workforce and financial planning for the healthcare systems in the constituent countries, alongside broader strengthening of national cancer prevention and control efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review examines the role of health services management in fostering sustainable healthcare systems, addressing the growing need for efficient, resource-conscious, and patient-centered care practices. Sustainability in healthcare is increasingly vital due to rising costs, resource limitations, and demands for high-quality services. Health services management plays a pivotal role in navigating these challenges by implementing practices that promote resource efficiency, quality improvement, workforce stability, and patient-centered care. This review synthesizes findings from recent studies to identify effective management practices that support sustainability, such as strategic resource allocation, quality management initiatives, workforce planning, and technology integration. Additionally, it highlights the barriers to sustainable healthcare management, including funding constraints and regulatory challenges. The review offers practical recommendations for healthcare managers and policymakers, emphasizing integrated management approaches, continuous training, and cross-departmental collaboration to enhance sustainability. Findings indicate that effective health services management not only improves system resilience but also enhances patient outcomes, employee satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness. This review underscores the need for sustained management efforts to create healthcare systems that are adaptable, efficient, and capable of meeting future healthcare demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The the current views of less-than full-time (LTFT) training by both LTFT and full-time (FT) doctors in training, with regards to health and well-being, clinical and non-clinical opportunities, in addition to associated future workforce implications and challenges, are uncertain. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of UK-based doctors in training via an online questionnaire, designed and piloted by the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh (RCPE) Trainees and Members Committee. Design was informed by prior investigation into LTFT training undertaken amongst similar populations by RCPE in 2019. The survey was distributed from May to September 2023 via email to trainees across the United Kingdom and was open to all specialties and training grades. The survey focused on lived experience of both LTFT and FT training, as well as perceived challenges for the future workforce. Results: There were 648 responses from doctors in training across the United Kingdom, with an even spread of LTFT and FT trainees. Most responses (53%) were from trainees in medical specialties. Most LTFT trainees plan to train at this pace for more than 5 years. LTFT was commonly linked to improved work–life balance and well-being, with FT training perceived to feature high stress and burnout. Concerns around LTFT relate to administrative errors, reduced training opportunities and colleague prejudice. Trainees are concerned about LTFT leading to rota gaps and incoherent workforce planning around training numbers. Conclusion: With ever-increasing popularity in LTFT training, flexible and robust long-term workforce planning is necessary for the system to adapt to a new normal and improve retention of doctors in training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Mental, neurological, and substance abuse (MNS) disorders describe a range of conditions that affect the brain and cause distress or functional impairment. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), MNS disorders make up 10.88 percent of the burden of disease as measured in disability-adjusted life years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the main providers of mental health services and one of the largest contributors to mental health research in the region. Within the past decade, mental health resources and services has increased. Methods We employ a needs-based workforce estimate as a planning exercise to arrive at the total number of psychiatrists, nurses, and psychosocial care providers needed to meet the epidemiological need of mental health conditions of the population of KSA. Estimates for a potential mental health workforce gap were calculated using five steps: Step 1—Quantify target population for priority mental health conditions. Step 2—Identify number of expected cases per year. Step 3—Set target service coverage for each condition. Step 4—Estimate cost-effective health care service resource utilization for each condition. Step 5—Estimate service resources needed for each condition. Results The planning exercise indicates an epidemiologic need for a total of 17,100 full-time-equivalent (FTE) health care providers to treat priority MNS disorders. KSA appears to have a need-based shortage of 10,400 health workers to treat mental disorders. A total of 100 psychiatrists, 5700 nurses, and 4500 psychosocial care providers would be additionally needed (that is, above and beyond current levels) to address the priority mental health conditions. The shortfall is particularly severe for nurses and psychosocial workers who make up 98.9 percent of the shortfall. This shortage is substantial when compared to other high-income countries. Overall, the workforce needed to treat MNS conditions translates to 49.2 health workers per 100,000 population. Conclusion Challenges to addressing the shortfall are Saudi specific which includes awareness of cultural customs and norms in the medical setting. These challenges are compounded by the lack of Saudi nationals in the mental health workforce. Saudi nationals make up 29.5 percent of the physician workforce and 38.8 percent of the nursing workforce. Policymakers and planners supplement this shortfall with non-Saudi providers, who must be mindful of Saudi-specific cultural considerations. Potential solutions to reducing the shortfall of mental health care workers includes nurse task shifting and training of general practitioners to screen for, and treat, a subset of MNS disorders.