Identifying global health competencies to prepare 21st century global health professionals: report from the global health competency subcommittee of the consortium of universities for global health.

As universities increase their focus on global health-related professional education, the need for specific competencies and outcomes to guide curriculum development is urgent. To address this need, the chair of the Education Committee of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) appointed a Subcommittee to determine if there is a need for broad global health core competencies applicable across disciplines, and if so, what those competencies should be. Based on that work, this paper (a) discusses the benefits of developing interprofessional and discipline-specific global health competencies; (b) highlights themes that emerged from a preliminary review of existing related literature; and (c) reviews the process used to identify two levels of interprofessional global health competencies.

Global health training and international clinical rotations during residency: current status, needs, and opportunities.

Increasing international travel and migration have contributed to globalization of diseases. Physicians today must understand the global burden and epidemiology of diseases, the disparities and inequities in global health systems, and the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity. To meet these needs, resident physicians across all specialties have expressed growing interest in global health training and international clinical rotations. More residents are acquiring international experience, despite inadequate guidance and support from most accreditation organizations and residency programs. Surveys of global health training, including international clinical rotations, highlight the benefits of global health training as well as the need for a more coordinated approach. In particular, international rotations broaden a resident's medical knowledge, reinforce physical examination skills, and encourage practicing medicine among underserved and multicultural populations. As residents recognize these personal and professional benefits, a strong majority of them seek to gain international clinical experience. In conclusion, with feasible and appropriate administrative steps, all residents can receive global health training and be afforded the accreditation and programmatic support to participate in safe international rotations. The next steps should address accreditation for international rotations and allowance for training away from continuity clinics by residency accreditation bodies, and stipend and travel support for six or more weeks of call-free elective time from residency programs.

Three domains of competency in global health education: recommendations for all medical students.

In the setting of world population growth and migration, global health issues have an increasing impact on domestic conditions and our medical practitioners. The authors ask: What exactly constitutes global health, and how much do U.S. and Canadian medical students or practitioners need to know about it? To address this topic, the authors convened an American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Committee on Medical Education, sought input from the Global Health Education Consortium, and surveyed members of the American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health for educational priorities within the tropical medicine field. The information gained from these sources has been distilled into three domains of global health competency that the authors propose each medical school curriculum should try to achieve for all students: global burden of disease, traveler's medicine, and immigrant health. The authors present here the rationale for altering curricula to include these three topics as a starting point for discussion among medical educators.

Orientaciones para planificadores de personal de salud

Planners of health workforces are beset by numerous imponderables but this is not the only reason why their work frequently meets with failure: too often they overlook the most basic principles of workforce planning. The present article reminds us what these are

Health manpower in Peru: a case study in planning

The author opens his study with an analysis of the demand - its conceptualization, evaluation and projection. Dissatisfied with the traditional method of using labor relations as a basis for planning, Dr. Hall focuses on the demand for services, the potential to increase productivity and economic viability

Demand analysis: general considerations

Projection of health manpower requirements presupposes that a suitable method exists to determine the demand that the future population of a region or nation will make for health services. Methods in use for this purpose vary markedly from country to country, and techniques for combining the merits of each one into a single a single formula are not available. This chapter considers the advantages and limitations of three approaches to the measurement and projection of demand, and outlines the method used in the Peru study (AU)

Pharmacists

A career in pharmacy held little attraction for Peruvians in the mid-1960's. At the time of survey, the three schools of pharmacy had twice as many first-year vacancies as qualified applicants. Even many graduates find the career unpromising and currently almost one out of every two leaves the profession (AU)

Nurses

It is widely recognized tha most of Peru's hospitals and outpatient facilities are inefficient. In many general hospitals the average duration of patient stay is over twenty days and only rarely is it less than fifteen. The evidence presented in this chapter suggested that doctors attending ambulatory patients see, on the average, fewer than three patients per hour. Auxiliary nurse effectiveness, too, is considered low. In each case one of the most important factors for the low productivity is the lack of a sufficient supply of professional nursing personnel (AU)

Professional Midwives

Almost four out of every five Peruvian babies are ushered into the world with the assistance of a midwife. But only one of these four is entrusted to the hands of a midwife trained in asepsis and the other basic elements of modern maternity care. The fetal and maternal loss that results from unskilled maternity care is enormous, and all the more tragic because it could so easily be prevented. Should the manpower study consider only the supply of, and demand for, trained midwives, or should the untrained empiric also be included? (AU) These issues will be discussed in this chapter.

The supply of other categories of health manpower

This chapter analysis the professional health personnel wich represent a costly investment and all measures possible that should be taken to ensure their efficient utilization. In recent years Peru has made a concerted effort to improve health facilities, but relatively little importance has been attributed to the preparation of adequate numbers of technical and auxiliary personnel

Issues in health manpower planning

Manpower policy cannot be divorced from health care organization. Organization affects the efficiency with which services are produced, and their cost in manpower, money, and materials. As has been evident throughout this monograph and will be discussed in this chapter