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PubMed2002

The health of the Australian workforce: 1998-2001.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the health of the Australian workforce in relation to occupational status. METHODS: Data on 9,167 workers, collected between 1998 and 2001, were obtained from the Campbell National Health Monitor, a cross-sectional national, health survey. Professional, white-collar and blue-collar workers were compared on five health outcomes: self-rated health, long-and short-term conditions, reduced activity days and work absences. RESULTS: One in 10 workers (M:11%; F:10%) rated their health as poor. Two-thirds (M: 60%; F: 64%) reported long-term conditions with four in five (M:77%; F: 83%) reporting short-term conditions. Smaller proportions took health-related actions, with 21% of men and 28% of women reducing their activity, and 17% of men and 20% of women taking time off work in a given month. Occupational inequalities in self-rated health were evident for both men and women, with professionals reporting the best health and blue-collar workers the worst (p < 0.001). Male, but not female, white- and blue-collar workers also had higher rates of short-term conditions (OR 1.25, 1.06-1.50 and 1.25, 1.07-1.46, respectively) and reduced activity days due to health (OR 1.43, 1.20-1.71 and 1.25, 1.07-1.47, respectively) compared with professionals. However, blue-collar workers reporting health problems were the least likely to take time off work (poor health: p = 0.043; short-term conditions: p = 0.001; long-term conditions: p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Blue-collar workers are the least healthy occupational grouping. They are also the most likely to present to work unwell. With employment conditions rapidly changing, better understanding of the impact of these changes on workers' health is vital.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Human resources for health policies: a critical component in health policies.

In the last few years, increasing attention has been paid to the development of health policies. But side by side with the presumed benefits of policy, many analysts share the opinion that a major drawback of health policies is their failure to make room for issues of human resources. Current approaches in human resources suggest a number of weaknesses: a reactive, ad hoc attitude towards problems of human resources; dispersal of accountability within human resources management (HRM); a limited notion of personnel administration that fails to encompass all aspects of HRM; and finally the short-term perspective of HRM.There are three broad arguments for modernizing the ways in which human resources for health are managed:bullet; the central role of the workforce in the health sector;bullet; the various challenges thrown up by health system reforms;bullet; the need to anticipate the effect on the health workforce (and consequently on service provision) arising from various macroscopic social trends impinging on health systems.The absence of appropriate human resources policies is responsible, in many countries, for a chronic imbalance with multifaceted effects on the health workforce: quantitative mismatch, qualitative disparity, unequal distribution and a lack of coordination between HRM actions and health policy needs.Four proposals have been put forward to modernize how the policy process is conducted in the development of human resources for health (HRH):bullet; to move beyond the traditional approach of personnel administration to a more global concept of HRM;bullet; to give more weight to the integrated, interdependent and systemic nature of the different components of HRM when preparing and implementing policy;bullet; to foster a more proactive attitude among human resources (HR) policy-makers and managers;bullet; to promote the full commitment of all professionals and sectors in all phases of the process.The development of explicit human resources policies is a crucial link in health policies and is needed both to address the imbalances of the health workforce and to foster implementation of the health services reforms.

Editorial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Verizon works to eliminate disparities in health care for its diverse workforce.

Eradicating disparities in health care is an ongoing process that must continue through actions from a variety of stakeholders, including employers. Verizon Communications has a diverse workforce of more than 200,000 employees and is committed to attracting and retaining a workforce that mirrors its customers, speaks their languages, and understands their needs. The company developed and implemented a comprehensive plan to help ensure that minority employees and their families receive the health care they need and deserve based on the Institute of Medicine's 2003 report Unequal Treatment.

Communication↗
PubMed1990

Environmental and workplace contamination in the semiconductor industry: implications for future health of the workforce and community.

The semiconductor industry has been an enormous worldwide growth industry. At the heart of computer and other electronic technological advances, the environment in and around these manufacturing facilities has not been scrutinized to fully detail the health effects to the workers and the community from such exposures. Hazard identification in this industry leads to the conclusion that there are many sources of potential exposure to chemicals including arsenic, solvents, photoactive polymers and other materials. As the size of the semiconductor work force expands, the potential for adverse health effects, ranging from transient irritant symptoms to reproductive effects and cancer, must be determined and control measures instituted. Risk assessments need to be effected for areas where these facilities conduct manufacturing. The predominance of women in the manufacturing areas requires evaluating the exposures to reproductive hazards and outcomes. Arsenic exposures must also be evaluated and minimized, especially for maintenance workers; evaluation for lung and skin cancers is also appropriate.

Arsenic↗
PubMed2006

Physician workforce shortages: implications and issues for academic health centers and policymakers.

A physician shortage is likely given current levels of medical education and training. Because an increase in physician supply through expansion of U.S. medical school capacity will require ten or more years, there is little time left to affect the supply of new physicians in 2020 when a substantial number of baby boomers will be over 70 years of age. Even with a substantial increase in medical education and training capacity, it is unlikely that all of the increased demand for health services can be met with physicians. In addition to the challenges of expanding medical school enrollment, the nation will need to grapple with other ramifications of demand exceeding supply. This includes assessing how to deliver services more effectively and efficiently and the future roles of the physician and other health professionals. These challenges are particularly difficult for medical schools and teaching hospitals, the cornerstones of medical education and training in the United States. Osteopathic and off-shore schools targeted to Americans have been willing and able to grow more quickly and less expensively than U.S. medical schools, in part because of their more narrow approaches to medical education. In addition, physicians from less developed countries continue to migrate to the United States in significant numbers. Medical schools, teaching hospitals, and policymakers will need to address several major questions as they respond to the shortages. They will either confront and address these issues in the next few years or they will be forced to change by others in the future.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1995

Assuring a trained workforce for allied health: the administrator's role.

In many areas healthcare education has failed to keep pace with changing needs for new skills and characteristics. The Project on the Future of Allied Health solicited a number of white papers detailing characteristics, competencies and attitudes that will be required of allied health workers in 2005. Two concepts from those white papers pertain especially to radiology: (1) the knowledge burden of today's health professional is quickly approaching overload and (2) manufacturers of healthcare equipment and technology must bear some responsibility for the problems and solutions. Some large employers have determined that allied health education is not providing appropriate training and have initiated their own programs. New models of allied health education and practice already exist around the country. It is no longer "if" but "how" we can make progress toward change. The impetus and funding for new programs probably will not come from the government; leaders in the industry must implement changes in education and staff development. Radiology administrators and professional associations must play a role in redesigning programs for allied health training.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMed2006

Addressing health care disparities and increasing workforce diversity: the next step for the dental, medical, and public health professions.

The racial/ethnic composition of our nation is projected to change drastically in the coming decades. It is therefore important that the health professions improve their efforts to provide culturally competent care to all patients. We reviewed literature concerning health care disparities and workforce diversity issues--particularly within the oral health field--and provide a synthesis of recommendations to address these issues. This review is highly relevant to both the medical and public health professions, because they are facing similar disparity and workforce issues. In addition, the recent establishment of relationships between oral health and certain systemic health conditions will elevate oral health promotion and disease prevention as important points of intervention in the quest to improve our nation's public health.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed2002

No care for the caregivers: declining health insurance coverage for health care personnel and their children, 1988-1998.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined trends in health insurance coverage for health care workers and their children between 1988 and 1998. METHODS: We analyzed data from the annual March supplements of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a Census Bureau survey that collects information about health insurance from a nationally representative sample of noninstitutionalized US residents. RESULTS: Of the health care personnel younger than 65 years, 1.36 million (90% confidence interval [CI] = 1.28 million, 1.45 million) were uninsured in 1998, up 83.4% from 1988; the proportion uninsured rose from 8.4% (90% CI = 7.8%, 9.1%) to 12.2% (90% CI = 11.5%, 12.9%). Declining coverage rates in the growing private-sector health care workforce---and declining health employment in the public sector, which provided health insurance benefits to more of its workers---accounted for the increases. Households with a health care worker included 1.12 million (90% CI = 1.05 million, 1.20 million) uninsured children, accounting for 10.1% (90% CI = 9.5%, 10.8%) of all uninsured children in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Health care personnel are losing health insurance coverage more rapidly than are other workers. Increasingly, the health care sector is consigning its own workers and their children to the ranks of the uninsured.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The primary dental care workforce.

With health care reform at the forefront of our nation's policy agenda, an assessment of the current status of the dental primary care workforce is required as an essential reform component. There has been much written in the literature about manpower but relatively little about the primary dental care workforce. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: 1) to describe the current primary dental care workforce; 2) to identify the distribution of this workforce; and 3) to describe the current delivery system. Characteristics, distribution, and delivery systems of the primary dental care workforce in the private and public sectors are described, and workforce issues relevant to health care reform are identified for future discussion.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Fatigue in the workforce of National Health Service Trusts: levels of symptomatology and links with minor psychiatric disorder, demographic, occupational and work role factors.

The aims of this study were: (1) to obtain a systematic estimate of the levels of fatigue in representative samples of the major occupational groups of health care workers; (2) to examine the relationship between fatigue and mental health as a function of occupational and work role factors; and (3) to test the proposition that fatigue arises from a combination of poor mental health and high job stress. Questionnaire data from 7720 NHS Trust staff was used. Higher levels of fatigue were reported among health care workers in comparison with general population figures. Highest levels of general fatigue, the subjective sensation of tiredness, were experienced by doctors (especially women doctors), professions allied to medicine and managers. Highest levels of fatigability, the onset of symptoms after exertion, were experienced by ancillary and nursing staff. Both general fatigue and fatigability were associated with high levels of psychological distress. Support was also found for the proposition that fatigue arises from a combination of poor mental health and high work demands.

Demography↗
PubMed2002

Emergence of the free agent nurse workforce.

The health care world is changing rapidly and so is its workforce. As nurses are welcomed as copartners in care delivery and design, a new relationship between employer and employee is forged. Nurses who see themselves as free agents, working in partnership with their employers, function within a very different employment relationship than in past years. The concept of free agency is more familiar to nurses in the Generation X age cohort but is of great interest to all nurses and nurse administrators. Free agency is more of a mindset than an employment status and is explored in this article.

Career Choice↗
PubMed2005

Measuring the nursing workforce: clarifying the definitions.

Numerous articles have addressed the causes and implications of the current nursing shortage. Little has been published, however, about how to measure the nursing workforce. This article presents (1) a review of definitions for common workforce indicators such as vacancy and turnoverrates and the relationship between these indicators and the need for nurses,(2) a review of the calculation of vacancy and turnoverrates in several statewide and national surveys, and (3) the results from the development and pilot test of a health care workforce survey for use in Vermont. The review indicates that in practice, no standard method is used despite attempts to standardize the calculation of vacancy and turnover rates. The Vermont pilot study results demonstrate that a richer profile of the health workforce can be obtained by using both standard workforce measures and more subjective questions to assess a statewide need for nurses.

Data Collection↗