The health and care workforce stands at a pivotal crossroads, facing mounting global and European challenges intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Persistent workforce shortages, maldistribution, and inequities continue to strain health systems, while health professionals grapple with rising levels of stress, burnout, and workplace violence.
This mid-term conference seeks to catalyze innovative research, policy discussions, and practical solutions to address these critical issues. Key focus areas include strategies to manage workforce migration, enhance mental health and well-being, promote inclusion, and address recruitment and retention challenges. Join us in shaping the future of a resilient and sustainable health and care workforce, including, but not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, public health professionals, social workers, pharmacists, dentists, and mental health professionals.
The themes will explore new research findings and evidence, policy reflections and applications, action plans, and insights from implementation science, addressing critical aspects of the health and care workforce, including:
- Innovative workforce governance solutions.
- Strategies to ensure equity, inclusion, and mental well-being.
- Policies focused on training, recruitment and retention of the health and care workforce.
- Ideas that address health and care planning, forecasting and regulation.
- Action plans that speak to migration-related challenges.
- Digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches.
This event is jointly organized by the EUPHA and Health and Care Workforce Section, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe/Programme on Human Resources for Health, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the Portuguese Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT) – WHO Collaborating Center on Health Workforce Policy and Planning (Lisbon, Portugal). It aims to foster knowledge exchange and policy dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners across Europe and beyond.This event will be hosted by the Health Services Management Training Centre, Semmelweis University – WHO Collaborating Centre on Human Resources for Health Development and Data-driven Health in Budapest, Hungary.By integrating oral and poster presentations with policy dialogues and expert panels, the conference will facilitate the exchange of innovative and sustainable solutions to shape the future health and care workforce.
Welcome speeches
Dr. Marius UNGUREANU – President, EUPHA Section on Health and Care Workforce
Dr. Eszter KOVACS – Semmelweis University Health Services Management Training Centre; WHO Collaborating Centre on Human Resources for Health Development and Data-driven Health, Budapest
Research and policy insights on health and care workforce challenges
Moderators
Dr. Marius UNGUREANU
Dr. Eszter KOVACS
Speakers
Dr. Lisa BALDINI (AGENAS, Italy)
Dr. Tomas ZAPATA (WHO EURO, Copenhagen)
Dr. Gemma WILLIAMS (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies)
Dr. Ellen KUHLMANN (University of Frankfurt, Germany)
Dr. Katarzyna Ptak BUFKENS (European Commission)
Panel Discussion on Health Workforce Optimization – lead by WHO Regional Office for Europe
Moderator
Dr. Zoltán CSERHÁTI (Semmelweis University Health Services Management Training Centre)
Panelists
Ms. Anne Lawlor (Chairperson, 22q11 Ireland Support Group and Co-chair of Irelands Health Service Patient and Service User Forum)
Ms. Åsa Olsson (Program Officer at the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden)
Dr. Miglė Trumpickaitė (Vice-President of the European Junior Doctors Association)
Professor Luis Lapao (Professor of Digital Health and Innovation Management at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Dr. Cathal Morgan (Policy Advisor, Human Resources for Health – Workforce Optimization – WHO Regional Office for Europe)
Keynote speeches
WHO Collaborating Center on Health Workforce Policy and Planning, Lisbon, Portugal
WHO Collaborating Center on Human Resources for Health Development and Data-driven Health in Budapest, Hungary
Oral presentations – Session 1: Building a Future-Ready Health Workforce: Competencies, Forecasting and Skills Development
Moderator
Ms. Nóra FAZEKAS (Semmelweis University Health Services Management Training Centre)
Presenters
Dr. Ellen Kuhlmann
Matching public health workforce competencies and new WHO priorities: a dynamic transformative roadmap and leadership in times of global crises
Dr. Elisabeth Rappold
Anticipating Health Workforce Needs: The Austrian Forecasting Model
Mr. Peter Paul Klein
From Data to Doctors: A Blended Microdata-Driven Approach for Forecasting the Demand for General Practitioner FTE
Ms. Federica Margheri
BeWell Skills Strategy for upskilling and reskilling the health and care workforce
Dr. Vincent De Prez
Be.well.pro survey to measure work-related mental well-being of professionals from the healthcare and welfare sector in Belgium
Dr. Milena Santric Milicevic
Availability, accessibility, and utilization of the primary healthcare workforce in medical deserts: Findings from a comprehensive three-year study
Oral presentations – Session 2: Shaping the Future of Healthcare: Professionalism and Collaboration
Moderator
Ms. Mara BUMBU (Department of Public Health, Cluj-Napoca)
Presenters
Dr. Maximilian Schwarz
Building Resilience through Community: The Austrian Primary Health Care Platform
Ms. Johanna Pilwarsch
Interprofessional Collaboration in Primary Care: Development of recommendations and a Self-Assessment Checklist
Dr. Eszter Kovacs
Task shifting as an innovative and sustainable solution to shape the future health workforce in Europe
Mrs. Magali Dumontet
Geographical Origins of Medical Students: Impact on Preferred Practice Locations
Policy and advocacy for a resilient health and care workforce
Moderators
Dr. Marius UNGUREANU
Dr. Eszter KOVACS
Speakers
Mr. Vlad VOICULESCU (MEP)
Dr. András KULJA (MEP)
Dr. Federica MARGHERI (EHMA)
Dr. Monica BRÎNZAC (EUPHA)
Oral presentations – Session 3: Well-Being and Resilience in Healthcare: Challenges and Solutions for the Workforce
Moderator
Dr. Gergely MIKESY (Semmelweis University Health Services Management Training Centre)
Presenters
Dr. Ilia Nadareishvili
Determinants of professional fulfillment and burnout among physicians in Georgia
Dr. Pieternella Pieterse
Needed, unemployed, unemployable. The conundrum of low-cadre African health workers from WHO Red List countries
Dr. Katja Savolainen
Flourishing in healthcare: The case for a well-being programme for nurses and midwives
Dr. Iris Wallenburg
Corporate professionalism in healthcare? Exploring professional entrepreneurship and capitalism in the healthcare sector
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies panel session
Moderators
Dr. Michelle FALKENBACH (Technical Officer, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium)
Dr. Marius UNGUREANU (President, EUPHA Health and Care Workforce Section)
Keynote speaker
Dr. Gemma WILLIAMS (Research Fellow, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London, UK)
Panel participants
Dr. Monica BRÎNZAC (EUPHA Network coordinator, EUPHA Health and Care Workforce Section)
Dr. Eszter KOVACS (Assistant Professor, Semmelweis University; WHO Collaborating Centre on Human Resources for Health Development and Data-driven Health)
Federica MARGHERI (Director, European Health Management Association – EHMA, Brussels, Belgium
Poster presentations
Dr. Marius Ungureanu
Enhancing Mental Health and Well-Being of Health Workforce in Europe: A Literature Review of Effective Strategies
Mr. Ștefan-Augustin Lazăr
Assessment of the Quality Management and Accreditation in Cluj County Public Hospitals
Dr. Ellen Kuhlmann
Responsible artificial intelligence innovation for the health and care workforce
Dr. Pieternella Pieterse
Struggling to achieve UHC: Sierra Leone’s healthcare financing, a backlog of unsalaried workers and unemployed nursing graduates
Dr. Sanja Stankovic
Strategically Planning Health Workforce Services Through Effective Workload Indicators for Staffing Needs
Dr. Milena Vladimirova
The increasing problems of health resources in Bulgaria
Dr. Ilia Nadareishvili
Access to medical residency: A qualitative study of experiences of medical graduates in Georgia
Dr. Monica Georgiana Brînzac
Applying a “medical deserts” lens to cancer care services in the North-West region of Romania from 2009 to 2022 – a mixed-methods analysis
Mrs. Julia Kowalska
Managerial lessons learned from mental health support initiatives for healthcare workers during pandemic
Dr. Chiara Forcella
Work-related stress in a surgical ward in a small hospital in a peripheral center in Italy
Dr. Nicola Magnavita
Occupational stress, common mental disorders and work ability in health care workers
Mr. Ștefan-Augustin Lazăr
How do young people in Cluj-Napoca choose healthcare providers? An analysis of public and private health institutions’ communication regarding healthcare services in Romania
Ms. Nóra Fazekas
H-PASS – A complex training course for healthcare professionals for digital health skills
Mr. Gunter Maier
Precision planning and prognosis of medical personnel in Austria based on the analysis and linking of pesudonymized routine data
Dr. Martijn Felder
Tech vs Touch: the evolving landscape of nursing expertise in times of scarcity
Dr. Shuhua Yang
Exploring the impact of human rights in the nursing home sector in Ireland: a study protocol
Mrs. Kelly Mitchell
Improving the transition of internationally educated nurses with a comprehensive adaptation programme
Dr. Eva Krczal
Team cohesion, task engagement and well-being. The interplay of social dynamics in fluid Multiteam Systems (MTS)
Dr. Aleksandar Stevanović
Rapid Assessment of Health Workforce Supply in Serbia: Prioritizing Districts for Action
