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Pinner A1, Kelly NA1, Audette JG2
1Health Volunteers Overseas, Washington, United States, 2University of Rhode Island, Kingston, United States
Background: A critical problem in resource-scarce countries across the globe is the shortage of appropriately trained health-care providers - estimated to reach 12.9 million by 2035. Due to limited resources in these countries, professional training, continuing education, and the capability to develop or implement educational programs and curricula are constrained.
The shortage is especially acute in rehabilitation services, as the WHO estimates 15% (over 1 billion) of the world's population lives with a disability - disproportionality affecting individuals in low-resource countries. Addressing the workforce shortage is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Rehabilitation 2030.
Purpose: Eliminating the workforce shortage requires increased investment in sustainable and effective global partnerships in education. To facilitate needed research around this topic and an open exchange of methodologies and best practices, Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) published 30 Years of Leveraging International Partnerships to Strengthen Health Worker Capacity and sponsored the publication of the Frontiers Research Topic, International Partnerships for Strengthening Health Care Capacity: Models of Collaborative Education. The final eBook, comprised of 33 articles, representing 28 countries, 96 organizations/institutions and drawing on the expertise of 163 authors, is an initial step to collate peer-reviewed manuscripts documenting widely applicable models of partnerships and programs.
By analyzing the impact of HVO's physical therapy (PT) projects, HVO is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable partnerships in realizing increased workforce capacity.
Methods: HVO examined its international partnerships over the last thirty years to identify key indicators of how to establish and maintain successful international partnerships in education and capacity building.
HVO also analyzed 3 years of PT program data derived from surveys and quantitative and qualitative measures of project impact.
Results: Key indicators of successful partnerships identified: mutual goal setting, honest and open communication, equity, mutual benefit, active partner engagement throughout the project lifecycle, flexibility, clearly defined leadership roles, and a local champion.
From 2015 - 2017, HVO's PT program partnered with 16 international organizations/institutions, training annually an average of 343 PTs and PT students. This includes 236 PT volunteer assignments across 11 projects in 10 countries. Seven of the manuscripts document a variety of these programs as well as programs external to HVO, providing evidence and guidance to the global PT community on structuring effective partnerships.
Conclusion(s): Sustaining successful and inclusive partnerships requires instilling an organizational culture of cooperation, a structured and strategic approach to partnership, and active incorporation of this philosophy into organizational practices.
Implementing key principles is critical. However, it is also important to recognize the uniqueness of each partnership. HVO and others involved in international education should remain committed to refining philosophies and processes to create equitable partnerships that promote integrated and sustainable contributions to strengthening health worker capacity.
Implications: HVO's investigation provides a road map that is widely applicable across program models and can be leveraged to promote increased collaboration among organizations, eliminate duplicative or ineffective efforts, and increase impact. This information will impact the quality and sustainability of global partnerships in rehabilitation and, ultimately, improve health outcomes and quality of life for millions.
Keywords: International Partnerships, Collaborative Education, Health Care Capacity
Funding acknowledgements: HVO funded publication of the Frontiers´ special edition journal International Partnerships for Strengthening Health Care Capacity: Models of Collaborative Education.
The shortage is especially acute in rehabilitation services, as the WHO estimates 15% (over 1 billion) of the world's population lives with a disability - disproportionality affecting individuals in low-resource countries. Addressing the workforce shortage is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Rehabilitation 2030.
Purpose: Eliminating the workforce shortage requires increased investment in sustainable and effective global partnerships in education. To facilitate needed research around this topic and an open exchange of methodologies and best practices, Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) published 30 Years of Leveraging International Partnerships to Strengthen Health Worker Capacity and sponsored the publication of the Frontiers Research Topic, International Partnerships for Strengthening Health Care Capacity: Models of Collaborative Education. The final eBook, comprised of 33 articles, representing 28 countries, 96 organizations/institutions and drawing on the expertise of 163 authors, is an initial step to collate peer-reviewed manuscripts documenting widely applicable models of partnerships and programs.
By analyzing the impact of HVO's physical therapy (PT) projects, HVO is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of sustainable partnerships in realizing increased workforce capacity.
Methods: HVO examined its international partnerships over the last thirty years to identify key indicators of how to establish and maintain successful international partnerships in education and capacity building.
HVO also analyzed 3 years of PT program data derived from surveys and quantitative and qualitative measures of project impact.
Results: Key indicators of successful partnerships identified: mutual goal setting, honest and open communication, equity, mutual benefit, active partner engagement throughout the project lifecycle, flexibility, clearly defined leadership roles, and a local champion.
From 2015 - 2017, HVO's PT program partnered with 16 international organizations/institutions, training annually an average of 343 PTs and PT students. This includes 236 PT volunteer assignments across 11 projects in 10 countries. Seven of the manuscripts document a variety of these programs as well as programs external to HVO, providing evidence and guidance to the global PT community on structuring effective partnerships.
Conclusion(s): Sustaining successful and inclusive partnerships requires instilling an organizational culture of cooperation, a structured and strategic approach to partnership, and active incorporation of this philosophy into organizational practices.
Implementing key principles is critical. However, it is also important to recognize the uniqueness of each partnership. HVO and others involved in international education should remain committed to refining philosophies and processes to create equitable partnerships that promote integrated and sustainable contributions to strengthening health worker capacity.
Implications: HVO's investigation provides a road map that is widely applicable across program models and can be leveraged to promote increased collaboration among organizations, eliminate duplicative or ineffective efforts, and increase impact. This information will impact the quality and sustainability of global partnerships in rehabilitation and, ultimately, improve health outcomes and quality of life for millions.
Keywords: International Partnerships, Collaborative Education, Health Care Capacity
Funding acknowledgements: HVO funded publication of the Frontiers´ special edition journal International Partnerships for Strengthening Health Care Capacity: Models of Collaborative Education.
Topic: Education; Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies; Professional issues: business skills, leadership & advocacy
Ethics approval required: No
Institution: Frontiers
Ethics committee: Frontiers in Public Health
Reason not required: This work is a combination of outcomes review and a perspective piece by HVO, including program evaluation data, which did not require IRB ethic approval per Frontiers submission guidelines. No human subjects or identifiable data is included in this work.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
