Newsletter, June 2023

EPH Conference, 8-11 November 2023 in Dublin, Ireland

Registration for the EPH Conference ‘Our food, our health, our earth: a sustainable future for humanity’ is open; early bird registration is available until 1 September; https://ephconference.eu. Here is a sneak peek of the healthcare workforce activities:

Special Health Workforce satellite event at EPH Conference in Dublin, Wednesday, 8. November, 6.00-8.00 pm

EUPHA-HWR colleague Dr Niamh Humphries is organising a satellite event hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI; https://www.rcsi.com/dublin/) and EUPHA-HWR section. You are hereby invited to this event in Dublin city centre – RCSI campus, St Stephens Green – on Wednesday, 8^th November from 6-8pm. The event will involve expert presentations from Tomas Zapata (WHO Europe), Ellen Kuhlmann (EUPHA-HWR) and Niamh Humphries (RCSI). It will give us an opportunity to discuss some of the healthcare workforce challenges we face and will provide some time and space for networking and collaboration. More details to follow.

EPH Workshops organised/ co-organised by EUPHA-HWR

• Violence against healthcare workers: why it is a policy issue and how to respond effectively? Organiser: EUPHA-HWR, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, WHO Europe, Chairs: E Kuhlmann, M Falkenbach. Speakers: Niamh Humphries, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Viola Burau, University of Aarhus, Denmark; Marius Ungureanu, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Sara Alidina, Department of Human Resources Management for Health, Portugal; Tomas Zapata, WHO Regional Office for Europe
• Healthcare workforce crisis: moving the Bucharest Declaration forward, bridging evidence and policy. Organiser: EUPHA-HWR, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, WHO Europe. Chairs: M Falkenbach, E Kuhlmann. Speakers: Matthias Bonigut, Institute of Emergency Medicine and Management in Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany; Ellen McCourt, European Junior Doctors Association; George Valiotis, European Health Management Association; Tomas Zapata, WHO Europe
• Legal determinants of health – what do (global) public health professionals need to know? Organiser: EUPHA-LAW, EUPHA-GH, EUPHA-HWR, EUPHAnxt. Chairs: R Biesma, E Kuhlmann
• Circular migration of the health and care workforce: how can we design sustainable policies? Organiser: Department of Public Health, Babeș-Bolyai University and EUPHA-HWR, Chairs: M-I Ungureanu, E Kuhlmann. Speakers: Tomas Zapata, WHO Europe; Aaron Poppleton, University of Keele, UK; Ligia Paina, Johns Hopkins, USA, Gareth Rees, ESAN University Peru

Health workforce issues will also be addressed in many individual presentations and posters, comprising a wide range of topics, from healthcare labour market, planning and management to organisational/workplace conditions, education and mental health and gender equality issues, to mention just some major topics. There will also be a Join-the-Network session where everybody is welcome to share their research and ideas.

Recent conference panels, co-organised by EUPHA-HWR

WHO 5^th Global Forum Human Resources for Health, Geneva/virtual, 3-5 April 2023.

A parallel session on Advancing the understanding of circular migration as an effective and equitable mechanism for health workforce retention and motivation, was organised and chaired by EUPHA-HWR member Marius Ungureanu, Babes Bolyai University Romania. Speakers include: Tomas Zapata/WHO Europe, Ligia Paina/Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health USA; Gareth Rees/ ESAN University Lima Peru; Ellen Kuhlmann/ EUPHA-HWR; further information is available at: https://www.who.int/teams/health-workforce/about/5thglobalforum-hrh

The (European Health Management Association) EHMA Annual Conference on ‘Health management: sustainable solutions for complex systems’ highlighted the health workforce situation and crisis and provided opportunities for strengthening the connections between EHMA and EUPHA-HWR. Several EUPHA-HWR members presented their research, especially in Track 3 “Human capital, professionalism and people management“. Michelle Falkenbach, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policy, and Ellen Kuhmann organised a workshop ‘Management responses to violence against healthcare workers’; panellists included: Ellen McCourt, European Junior Doctors Association, Belgium; Rolf-André Oxholm, Norwegian Nurses Organisation, Norway, Zoi Mylona, EHMA, and Marius Ungureanu, Babes Bolyai University Romania.

Notices

EUPHA-HWR election of a new president/steering board in November 2023. The regular term of the current EUPHA-HWR steering group ends and a new president and steering group will be elected in November 2023, taking office during/after the EPH Conference, as already announced in the previous Newsletter and during the Join-the Network session at the EPH Conference in 2022 in Berlin. The election will follow EUPHA guidelines; more details and nomination criteria will be announced in the next Newsletter (30 September 2023).

Survey of the Be Well project. The EU project BeWell (led by EHMA, in collaboration with the European Observatory on Heath Systems and Policies, NIVEl, and others) is about increasing the sustainability of the health and care sector in Europe through the expansion of digital and green skills within the health and care workforce. You are invited to participate in a survey to capture respondents’ experiences, perspectives and ideas regarding digital and green skills for healthcare workers to serve as a basis for further research; to start the online survey directly: https://enquete.nivel.nl/bewell

Summer School on Refugee and Migrant Health. 11–15 September 2023, Bern, Switzerland; 16–21 October 2023, Lesbos, Greece. Interdisciplinary setting & networking with peers & experts from Switzerland, Greece & globally. Innovative, interactive learning scenarios – Hands-on seminar (incl. handheld ultrasound) – Case studies & patient simulations (incl. boat rescue exercise) – Insight into different medical care models in refugee shelters in Switzerland and Greece – lectures by national and international experts. Registration & additional information: www.migration-health.org

EUPHA/ EUPHAnxt new mentoring programme. The new EUPHAnxt mentoring programme has been launched and applications closed mid-June. The kick-off event will follow shortly. The programme aims to connect the next generation of European public health professionals to more experienced professionals in the field, as well as provide a platform for young public health professionals to expand their professional network. For more information, please contact the EUPHAnxt team at info.euphanxt@eupha.org.

Public Health and Emergency Workforce Roadmap, 3^rd Steering Committee Meeting, Rome, 6-7 July 2023, hosted by the Italian Institute of Public Health. Ellen Kuhlmann/EUPHA-HWR will participate in the meeting as EUPHA delegate.

Publications

Human Resources for Health, Call for Papers. The primary care medical workforce crisis in the European region: a call for evidence and analysis papers on causes, impacts, and solutions, Special Issue of Human Resources for Health, edited by G Russo, J Perelman, T Zapata, M Šantrić-Milićević; https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/MWCE

Byrne J-P, Humphries N, McMurray R, Scotter C. COVID-19 and healthcare worker mental well-being: Comparative case studies on interventions in six countries in the WHO European Region. Health Policy, 2023; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104863

Rees G, James R, Samadashvili L, Scotter C. Are sustainable health workforces possible? Issues and a possible remedy. Sustainability, 2023; 15(4): 3596; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043596

Rees GH. Health workforce governance and professions: a re-analysis of New Zealand’s primary care workforce policy actors. BMC Health Serv Res, 2023; 23: 449; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09459-8

Brînzac M, Kuhlmann E, Dussault G, Ungureanu MI, Cherecheș RM, Baba CO. Defining medical deserts – an international consensus-building exercise. Eur J Public Health, 2023, available online shortly

Kuhlmann E, Falkenbach M, Lotta G, Tenbensel T, Dopfer-Jablonka A. Why we need to explore violence against healthcare workers as a political issue: a rapid international comparative assessment. Front Public Health, 2023, 11: 1182328; doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1182328

Kuhlmann E, Ungureanu M-I, et al. Migrant healthcare workers during COVID-19: bringing an intersectional health system-related approach into pandemic protection. A German case study. Front Public Health, 2023, available online shortly

Kuhlmann E, Denis J-L, Côté N, Lotta G, Neri S. Comparing health workforce policy during a major global health crisis: a critical conceptual debate and international empirical investigation. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2023, 20: 5035; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065035

Kuhlmann E, Ungureanu M-I, Thilo N, Mac Fehr L, N-C Cosma, Brînzac MG, Dopfer-Jablonka A. Migrant healthcare workers’ experiences and mobility patterns in a global health crisis: a qualitative study with Romania physicians working in Germany; medRxiv preprint available at; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.29.23289300

WHO & European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Policy Brief 1: What did the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about future workforce development? Policies and practices to recruit, retain, reskill and support health and care workers, 2023; available at: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/global-health-workforce-responses-to-address-the-covid-19-pandemic-what-policies-and-practices-to-recruit-retain-reskill-and-support-health-workers-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-should-inform-future-workforce-development

WHO & European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Policy brief 2: What can intersectoral governance do to strengthen the health and care workforce? Structures and mechanisms to improve the education, employment and retention of health and care workers, 2023; available at: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/what-can-intersectoral-governance-do-to-strengthen-the-health-and-care-workforce-structures-and-mechanisms-to-improve-the-education-employment-and-retention-of-health-and-care-workers

WHO & European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Policy brief 3: What steps can improve and promote investment in the health and care workforce? Enhancing efficiency of spending and rethinking domestic and international financing, 2023; available at: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/what-steps-can-improve-and-promote-investment-in-the-health-and-care-workforce-enhancing-efficiency-of-spending-and-rethinking-domestic-and-international-financing

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The next EUPHA-HWR Newsletter scheduled for 30 September 2023. Please send notices on conferences, etc., and publications related to health workforce issue until 22 September 2023. Please forward this Newsletter to colleagues and friends who are interested in health workforce research; sign up for the EUPHA-HWR section; https://eupha.org/health-workforce-research.

Ellen Kuhlmann

EUPHA-HWR President

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