Medical services are protected under international law. When they are attacked without any consequences, it sends the message health-care workers and patients are acceptable targets.
Nurses say violence is treated as ‘part of the job’ or believe patients can’t be held accountable for their assaults if they are intoxicated or distressed.
Health workers who picked their noses were more likely to contract COVID, according to a new study. But here’s what the study means for the rest of us.
Recruiting health workers from countries on the World Health Organization’s safeguard list without robust and reciprocal benefits for the countries sending them does not meet ethical standards.
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Recruiting internationally educated health workers is a key part of Canada’s proposed solution to the health worker crisis. But there are ethical questions about recruiting from foreign countries.
The greatest workforce challenge Australia faces is in health, an issue that will likely be with us for another decade. Here’s one way to fix it.
Health-care workers protest over stalled contract negotiations with the provincial government in Montréal in October 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
To prevent a shortage of health workers, public expressions of appreciation need to be backed by policies that provide dignity, decent working conditions, accountability and appropriate remuneration.
While the vast majority of health workers are prepared to accept COVID vaccinations, we need to make sure the concerns of the minority are heard and don’t compromise safety.
Doctors in Nigerian hospitals work under difficult conditions.
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Around 70% of front-line health workers said they were exhausted in 2020. With COVID hospitalisations expected to rise in coming weeks, the pressure is about to get a whole lot worse.
Students enter the workplace as front-line workers. Understanding their role in the health team is key.
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If universities produce graduates who can work effectively in a team, the healthcare system will be strengthened and this would improve the health outcomes for patients.
Health workers have long called for better protections against COVID-19. Well fitting masks are now required when caring for COVID-19 patients. But the guidelines on ventilation miss the mark.
“We saw patients dying for avoidable reasons. They were dying because masks that came loose were not being replaced,” says MSF COVID-19 intervention nursing activities manager, Caroline Masunda.
Chris Allan
Where there are not enough health workers to deliver medical care, one solution is to move certain tasks to less specialised health workers, a process called task-shifting.
Professor of Health Economics and Policy and Pharmaco-economics/pharmaco-epidemiology in the Departments of Health Administration & Management and Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria