Role of human resource management systems on performance of health workforce in low and middle income countries. A review of literature

Abstract

Better health outcomes are directly related to the improved health workforce outcomes. Acute shortage of health workers in low and middle income countries infers that performance of the available health workforce should be maximized through HRM interventions to fulfill health needs of people living in low and middle income countries. This literature review of empirical studies conducted in lower and middle income countries was therefore designed to identify that which HRM interventions are being commonly practiced to improve the performance of health workforce. ProQuest central data base was used for the search of literature. 17 Studies with primary data collected from lower and middle income countries published in last 10 years were reviewed. The results showed that "work environment" and "performance management" are two out of four HRM interventions which are most commonly being evaluated for its impact on improved performance. It was found that "availability" and "competence" were the two out of four dimensions of performance which were commonly measured. All the studies showed that HRM interventions have positive impact on improving the performance of Health workers.