UNASSIGNED: Considering the increasing use of information technology (IT) and the need of the implementation of related projects, the lack of IT specialists in the health system is one of the major challenges that require planning and foreseeing. This study was conducted with the aim of predicting the number of required IT personnel in hospitals of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on the modeling of identified and weighed influential factors in 2023.
UNASSIGNED: First, Delphi method and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) using the Expository Posthaste Effective Resemblant Tool (ExPERT) were conducted to identify and weigh the components that affect IT staff\'s workload in hospitals. Then, the model for predicting the required number of IT personnel for the involved hospitals was developed. In all stages, the obtained information and results were checked and confirmed using experts\' opinions in Focus Group Discussions.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty-one hospitals (57%) out of 37 hospitals are facing a shortage of IT personnel. This varies from 0.5 to 1.6 personnel in different hospitals. Thirteen hospitals (35%) were reported to have adequate IT staffing and three hospitals (8%) had excess IT staffing.
UNASSIGNED: This study provided a predictive model for required IT staff in hospitals using MCDM through ExPERT which can be used in cases where the use of workload-based methods such as Workload Indicators of Staffing Need is complex or time-consuming.

This study used machine learning (ML) to predict mental health employees\' turnover in the following 12 months using human resources data in a community mental health centre. The data contain 621 employees\' information (e.g., demographics, job information and client information served by employees) hired between 2011 and 2021 (56.5% turned over during the study period). Six ML methods (i.e., logistic regression, elastic net, random forest [RF], gradient boosting machine [GBM], neural network and support vector machine) were used to predict turnover, along with graphical and statistical tools to interpret predictive relationship patterns and potential interactions. The result suggests that RF and GBM led to better prediction according to specificity, sensitivity and area under the curve (>0.8). The turnover predictors (e.g., past work years, work hours, wage, age, exempt status, educational degree, marital status and employee type) were identified, including those that may be unique to the mental health employee population (e.g., training hours and the proportion of clients with schizophrenia diagnosis). It also revealed nonlinear and nonmonotonic predictive relationships (e.g., wage and employee age), as well as interaction effects, such that past work years interact with other variables in turnover prediction. The study indicates that ML methods showed the predictability of mental health employee turnover using human resources data. The identified predictors and the nonlinear and interactive relationships shed light on developing new predictive models for turnover that warrant further investigations.

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BACKGROUND: Despite the significance of demand forecasting accuracy for the registered nurse (RN) workforce, few studies have evaluated past forecasts.
OBJECTIVE: This paper examined the ex post accuracy of past forecasting studies focusing on RN demand and explored its determinants on the accuracy of demand forecasts.
METHODS: Data were collected by systematically reviewing national reports or articles on RN demand forecasts. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was measured for forecasting error by comparing the forecast with the actual demand (employed RNs). Nonparametric tests, the Mann‒Whitney test, and the Kruskal‒Wallis test were used to analyze the differences in the MAPE according to the variables, which are methodological and researcher factors.
RESULTS: A total of 105 forecast horizons and 196 forecasts were analyzed. The average MAPE of the total forecast horizon was 34.8%. Among the methodological factors, the most common determinant affecting forecast accuracy was the RN productivity assumption. The longer the length of the forecast horizon was, the greater the MAPE was. The longer the length of the data period was, the greater the MAPE was. Moreover, there was no significant difference among the researchers\' factors.
CONCLUSIONS: To improve demand forecast accuracy, future studies need to accurately measure RN workload and productivity in a manner consistent with the real world.

BACKGROUND:  Family medicine has trained specialist family physicians in South Africa since 2008, but not investigated their career pathways. The study aimed to determine the career pathways of newly qualified family physicians between 2008 and 2022.
METHODS:  A cross-sectional descriptive survey of all 186 family physicians via an electronic questionnaire.
RESULTS:  Response rate was 44.6% (83/186). Overall, 9.6% emigrated, 10.8% were no longer practising, and 79.5% were still practising in South Africa. Of the latter, 14.5% were in the private sector, 55.4% in the public sector and 9.6% in both. Of those in the public sector, 33.7% were in specialist family physician posts, 12% in medical officer posts, 4.8% in managerial positions and 4.8% in academic positions. Issues relating to safety and security were important to those working in both sectors and relationships with colleagues in the clinical team, to those in the public sector. Overall, participants practised near or within their province of training and were not equitably distributed.
CONCLUSIONS:  Only a third of graduates were in specialist family physician posts in the public sector. Attention needs to be given to retaining more graduates in such posts to achieve the goals of the national position paper. The proportion in the private sector was lower than expected. The reasons for no longer practising medicine should be further explored.Contribution: This is the first study on the career pathways of family physicians in South Africa since the new speciality was created. Understanding these pathways will assist with human resources for health planning.

UNASSIGNED: Digital work poses cognitive demands on all employees, but the impact is greater for employees with cognitive impairments. Digitalization also has significant implications for employer representatives as they are responsible for the work environment. However, knowledge is scarce concerning employer representatives\' perspectives on identifying needs and support for employees with cognitive impairments working in a digital work environment.
UNASSIGNED: To describe employer representatives\' experiences of work environment management with focus on employees with cognitive impairments working in a digital environment.
UNASSIGNED: Focus group methodology was used. Six employer representatives with work environment responsibilities participated.
UNASSIGNED: One overall theme \"Mastering the interconnected processes in a transformative digital work environment\" as well as three themes \"Facilitating good digital work conditions\", \"Identifying needs and difficulties in work tasks among employees\' with cognitive impairments\" and \"Pursuing knowledge and collaborations to support employees with cognitive impairments\" with subthemes were identified. The themes describe employer representatives\' challenges and efforts to identify fluctuating needs in employees with cognitive impairments and, also, to organize and reduce cognitive demands in the work environment to support them.
UNASSIGNED: Managing the challenges of an evolving digital work environment and matching individual work ability of employees with cognitive impairments in relation to cognitive demands is an ongoing process. The participants valued cooperation with employees with cognitive impairments but lacked support from expertise. The need to develop and implement a functioning support system for vocational rehabilitation to ensure a sustainable work in digital work environments is indicated.

BACKGROUND: Eswatini faces persistent challenges in providing care for diabetes and hypertension, exacerbated by a shortage of healthcare workers. The implementation of WHO-PEN interventions aimed to address these issues, yet their effects on healthcare worker time requirements and associated costs remain unclear.
METHODS: This study employed a time-and-motion analysis and a bottom-up cost assessment to quantify the human and financial resources required for scaling up WHO-PEN interventions nationally in Eswatini for all estimated diabetic and hypertensive patients.
RESULTS: Findings reveal that healthcare workers in intervention-arm clinics reported longer workday durations compared to those in control-arm clinics, yet spent less time per patient while seeing more patients. The implementation of WHO-PEN interventions increased the workload on healthcare workers but also led to a notable increase in patient care utilization. Furthermore, a morning peak in patient visits was identified, suggesting potential opportunities for optimizing patient flow. Notably, scaling up care provision nationally with WHO-PEN interventions proved to be more cost saving than expanding standard-of-care treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: WHO-PEN interventions hold promise in improving access to diabetes and hypertension care in Eswatini while offering an efficient solution. However, addressing challenges in healthcare workforce creation and retention is crucial for sustained effectiveness. Policy makers must consider all aspects of the WHO-PEN intervention for informed decision-making. Trial registration US Clinical Trials Registry. NCT04183413. Trial registration date: December 3, 2019. https://ichgcp.net/clinical-trials-registry/NCT04183413.

UNASSIGNED: Clinical research coordinators (CRCs) play a key role in supporting the translational research enterprise, with responsibilities encompassing tasks related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of clinical research trials. While the literature explores CRC competencies, job satisfaction, and retention, little attention has been given to the role of the PI working with Human Resources (HR) in the CRC hiring and onboarding processes. We investigated the priorities, decision-making processes, and satisfaction levels of principal investigators (PIs) and hiring managers in CRC hiring.
UNASSIGNED: An online survey consisting of open-ended and fixed-choice questions to gather information on desired CRC qualifications and competencies, factors influencing hiring decisions, and overall satisfaction with selected candidates was administered. The survey utilized a Task/Competency Checklist developed from job descriptions and the literature. Respondents were asked to rank the importance of factors such as CRC skill set, years of experience, educational background, and budget constraints.
UNASSIGNED: Results indicated that the skill set of the applicant was the most frequently cited factor influencing the hiring decision, followed by years of experience. Education and budget constraints were of lesser importance. Most respondents reported a satisfaction rating of 50% or greater with their new hires, although some participants expressed challenges related to institutional training requirements, the performance of entry-level CRCs, and the qualifications of experienced candidates.
UNASSIGNED: The hiring cycle involves HR-PI collaboration for a clear job description, effective onboarding processes, and accessible professional development opportunities to enhance PI and employee satisfaction and CRC retention.

The Polish healthcare system faces many problems, among which the shortage of healthcare professionals is one of the most urgent. In less than ten years, more than twenty Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been allowed to add medical programmes to their offer, aiming to increase the number of doctors in Poland. Recently, the healthcare system was faced with a proposal to abolish the mandatory postgraduate internship which has been a mandatory component of medical training for years. Two main reforms were considered. The first one focused on the programme of the internship and aimed to update it. The second one recommended an abolition of the internship. The authors of this article analysed the opinions and positions of key players within the system regarding the postgraduate internship. Opinions in this regard are diverse, leading to the conclusion that additional actions would be required prior to the internship abolition. Undergraduate training has changed and currently students are taught in modern facilities, using new teaching methods. On the other hand, internship allows trainees to improve or even acquire skills they may not have obtained during their studies. The postgraduate internship is an essential part of doctors\' training. However, in Poland, there is still a lack of a well-thought, long-term policy or strategy for physicians\' workforce development. Our study presents a Polish perspective on common challenges in medical training and workforce policy, highlighting the clash over the growing demand for physicians and the limitations of the existing system.

Grief is everywhere and affects individuals and teams in many different ways. The negative effects may not only be felt by the individual, but they can disrupt a team or an entire organization. While grief is common, understanding how to interact with others who are grieving is not. As leaders within healthcare institutions, pharmacists encounter many individuals and teams that are experiencing grief. The sources of grief can arise from pharmacy team members, other healthcare providers, patients, or our own personal experiences. This literature review introduces grief, where it comes from, and how it is emotionally and physically expressed in individuals. It discusses grief\'s disruptive nature and how to effectively communicate with those grieving to limit disturbances to individual, team, and organizational performance. Understanding what grief is, how it manifests in individuals and teams, and how to navigate a grieving workplace are vital skills for pharmacy leaders and will enable a more productive workplace.