Prepare an Environmental Scan of the health workforce of the two countries using national and international health workforce references, including policy and planning documents and any other relevant health workforce plans

Assessment 2: Analytical Report (60%)
Due Date: Week 14, Friday 8th June, 2018 at 5.00pm
Length: 2500 words. Submit in Report Format. (NOTE: Executive Summary, References and Appendices are not included in the word count and excess words will not be marked).
Submission Details: Via Turnitin on unit vUWS site.
Feedback Details: Via Grade Mark.
Rationale
The purpose of this assignment is to compare and contrast two national health workforce plans or planning processes for Australia and another country in the WHO Western Pacific Region, as defined by WHO.
Task
The WHO has a system of classification of countries by region and income that is described in Annex 1 of the “World Health Statistics Report, 2015” (WHO, 2015, p. 160-161). Use the table showing countries on Page 161 in the WHO Western Pacific Category to select the second country you will use for the assignment. 4 This report also provides a range of statistics on the health workforce by country.
Your task is to:
1) Prepare a Table of Contents for the Assignment using a report format including an Executive summary.
2) Write an Introduction, including documentation of the rationale for selection of the country to compare with the Australian context.
3) Prepare an Environmental Scan of the health workforce of the two countries using national and international health workforce references, including policy and planning documents and any other relevant health workforce plans.
4) Prepare a data profile of the health workforce by category for each country using WHO data and other data sources. Develop the workforce profile using tables, graphs and supporting explanatory text.
5) Based on the previous steps and relevant literature, identify critical issues to be addressed in each country.
6) Use the set of ten recommendations developed in the WHO 2016 report “Working for health and growth: investing in the health workforce” 5 as a framework to determine if each of the countries are addressing WHO priorities in their national workforce planning (WHO, 2016, p.11-12).
Criteria
You will be assessed according to the following criteria:
• Academic writing skills, use of report format and APA.
• Ability to introduce the topic and findings in a well summarised Executive Summary.
• Understanding of the workforce planning process at national level.
4 World Health Organisation [WHO](2015). World Health Statistics 2015. Geneva.
Retrieved from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/170250/1/9789240694439_eng.pdf?ua=1&ua=1
5 WHO (2016). “Working for health and growth: investing in the health workforce”. Report of the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/hrh/comheeg/en/
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4 0 0 8 4 3 H E A L T H W O R K F O R C E P L A N N I N G
A U T U M N 2 0 1 6 S E C T I O N T W O
• Preparation of an Environmental Scan.
• Capacity to analyse workforce profile data including the use of charts and tables to support the analysis and presentation.
• Critical analysis and synthesis of the relevant literature to support issues identification and strategies development and assessment.
Resources
Provide your answers based on the unit material and recommended readings in Modules 1 to 5.
Graphic material is an essential way of presenting health workforce data. Topics will be discussed in tutorials.
Use the Hints document on vUWS to identify the relevant sections for report format.
WHO has established Regional Observatories on Human Resources in Health Systems that include a Western Pacific Health Workforce Observatory. These regional observatories may include relevant material for the development of the assignment.
Retrieved from:
http://www.wpro.who.int/en/ http://www.wpro.who.int/countries/en/ http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main-wpro.HWF?lang=en