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Human Resources for Health
Published in: Human Resources for Health 1/2021

Open Access 01-12-2021 | Research

Visualizing the drivers of an effective health workforce: a detailed, interactive logic model

Authors: Serena Sonderegger, Sara Bennett, Veena Sriram, Ummekulsoom Lalani, Shreya Hariyani, Timothy Roberton

Published in: Human Resources for Health | Issue 1/2021

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Abstract

Background

A strong health workforce is a key building block of a well-functioning health system. To achieve health systems goals, policymakers need information on what works to improve and sustain health workforce performance. Most frameworks on health workforce planning and policymaking are high-level and conceptual, and do not provide a structure for synthesizing the growing body of empirical literature on the effectiveness of strategies to strengthen human resources for health (HRH). Our aim is to create a detailed, interactive logic model to map HRH evidence and inform policy development and decision-making.

Methods

We reviewed existing conceptual frameworks and models on health workforce planning and policymaking. We included frameworks that were: (1) visual, (2) comprehensive (not concentrated on specific outcomes or strategies), and (3) designed to support decision-making. We compared and synthesized the frameworks to develop a detailed logic model and interactive evidence visualization tool.

Results

Ten frameworks met our inclusion criteria. The resulting logic model, available at hrhvisualizer.​org, allows for visualization of high-level linkages as well as a detailed understanding of the factors that affect health workforce outcomes. HRH data and governance systems interact with the context to affect how human resource policies are formulated and implemented. These policies affect HRH processes and strategies that influence health workforce outcomes and contribute to the overarching health systems goals of clinical quality, responsiveness, efficiency, and coverage. Unlike existing conceptual frameworks, this logic model has been operationalized in a highly visual, interactive platform that can be used to map the research informing policies and illuminating their underlying mechanisms.

Conclusions

The interactive logic model presented in this paper will allow for comprehensive mapping of literature around effective strategies to strengthen HRH. It can aid researchers in communicating with policymakers about the evidence behind policy questions, thus supporting the translation of evidence to policy.
Footnotes
1
The Health Worker Life Cycle model [42] is another framework with similar “stages” of the lifecycle, which is based on Sousa et al. [9] and therefore was not included in our results.
 
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Metadata
Title
Visualizing the drivers of an effective health workforce: a detailed, interactive logic model
Authors
Serena Sonderegger
Sara Bennett
Veena Sriram
Ummekulsoom Lalani
Shreya Hariyani
Timothy Roberton
Publication date
01-12-2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Human Resources for Health / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1478-4491
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-021-00570-7

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