Objective To understand current situation of medical service and management in Yong’an Central Township Health Center (YaC) through on-the-spot investigation, in order to provide references for personal employment and essential medicines list implement in township health centers. Methods Questionnaire and focus interview were carried out, which included the general information, human resources, medical service and management, and the practice of essential medicines list. Results The hardware equipments of YaC were fine, and the target population had fairly good health and economy status. The ratio of General Practitioner (GP)/ nurse and GP/ pharmacist were all above the national average level. The members with college degree and above accounted for 61.6%, and about 88% staffs were with or below primary profession titles. There was a balance between personnel flow out and in. The drug income accounted for 53.6% of the whole in 2009 and the medical expenses increased compared to 2008. Essential medicines list was put into practice in April 1st of 2010 with no relevant technical documents as correspondence. Conclusion YaC, as a good representative of fairly well-off rural Township Health Center in western China, needs to cope with challenges of irrational personnel structure, low educational background and professional title of the staff and human resources flow, and requires developing policy and adopting measures step by step. The management of YaC may be influenced by zero-profit price of the essential medicine, and appropriate subsidy and policy support are necessary to maintain current service quality.
Objective In light of problems related to the accessibility and affordability of healthcare, we aimed to investigate the status and causes for the shortage of qualified health human resources in the rural and primary health care setting, and to propose solutions to these problems at the level of health policy system. Methods The principles and methods of evidence-based medicine were applied. We developed the study selection criteria on the basis of the proposed questions, and identified relevant literature from biomedical databases and other additional sources. We graded eligible studies, extracted data, and summarized the data to draw conclusions. In addition, we conducted a survey to refine the proposed solutions. Results We identified 147studies from PubMed and CNKI, of which 30were in English. After summarizing the information, and using knowledge about the human resources for health in primary healthcare in China, we proposed a model of resident doctor aid healthcare. The survey that we conducted to assess such a model included interviewees of top level policy makers, medical students and staff in medical universities. Most of the interviewees (85%) thought it was feasible to develop an aid healthcare system. Among those who disagreed, the lack of corresponding policy was the most common factor. Conclusions It is suggested that the government develop relevant policies and make an attempt to practice the aid healthcare system. Emerging problems could be identified and addressed in practice.
ObjectivesTo analyze the balance of medical human resource allocation in Chengdu and to discuss the impact of human resource allocation structure on the hospital’s medical service capabilities, so as to provide a theoretical basis for the hospital to optimize the talent team structure.MethodsThe Moran’s index and Gini coefficient were used to evaluate the spatial aggregation and grade distribution difference of human resources allocation, respectively. The case mix index (CMI), the length of hospital stay, and the difficulty of surgery were used as outcome variables, and a multiple regression analysis model was established to explore the impact of human resource indicators on the hospital’s medical service capabilities.ResultsThe distribution of doctors showed an obvious spatial aggregation in Chengdu, and there was a positive spatial correlation (Moran’s Idoctor=0.290); the distribution of nurses had no obvious spatial aggregation (Moran’s Inurse=0.102). Under different medical service capacity segments, the Gini coefficient of doctors was 0.518, and the Gini coefficient of nurses was 0.576, both exceeding 0.5, indicating that the distribution of medical human resources in different levels of hospitals was considerably different. The regression results showed that the expansion of the quantity of senior title doctors and the proportion of medical care both could improve the hospital’s CMI. The increase in the quantity of doctors with senior titles also had a certain impact on improving the hospital’s surgical capabilities. The expansion of the proportion of medical care could lead to a slight increase in the length of patients' hospital stay.ConclusionsOptimizing the allocation structure of medical human resources in different regions and hospitals with different levels is an important task in the construction of a hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system. It is necessary to further integrate medical human resources throughout the whole city and strengthen personnel training and team building in primary health institutions. Hospitals at different levels should implement their own development positioning and further optimize their human resource allocation structure according to development needs. Tertiary hospitals should pay more attention to the cultivation of senior professional doctors, optimize the proportion of medical care, and improve the hospital’s medical service capabilities. The primary health institutions should pay attention to the comprehensive construction of medical personnel, and strengthen the development of the team of general practitioners, so as to achieve a comprehensive improvement of the city’s medical service capabilities.