Mobility of Health Professionals (MoHProf)
Worldwide mobility of health professionals is a growing phenomenon, impacting the health systems of receiving, transit, and sending countries. EU Member States are increasingly affected by these developments – which might occur simultaneously within the same country. Therefore, the need to develop European policies to adequately address these issues is urgent. At the same time, reliable and differentiated knowledge and findings as a basis for such policy are lacking. MoHProf will contribute to improving this knowledge base and facilitate European policy on human resource planning. The general objective of the project is to research current trends of mobility of health professionals to, from and within the EU. Research will also be conducted in non-European sending and receiving countries, but the focus lies on the EU: comparative studies in a selected range of representative states will determine the impact of different types of migration on national health systems. Research will be conducted in EU receiving countries (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom), sending countries to the EU (Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa [Africa]; India, Iran, The Philippines [Asia]; Russia, Ukraine [Europe]), sending countries within the EU (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania) and destination countries for health professionals from EU Member States (Canada and United States of America). Partners inside and outside the EU will cooperate in the project. Scientific institutes capable of conducting sound investigations are working together with worldwide active international health service organisations, which have the information and global links for research and policy development on international mobility.
Methodological approach:
An innovative approach will generate more comparable, specified and qualified data gathered by mainly qualitative research. The project looks for quantities of migration flows, as well as detailed qualities like professions, motives, circumstances and the social context, i.e. push and pull factors. Crucial for the approach are key stakeholders, which represent the relevant unities, organisations, and sectors in national health systems. They will enable the collection of existing data and statistics, but, above all, enable the generation of new, qualitative data. In-depth interviews, based on thematic guidelines, with representatives of these key stakeholders will allow a triangulation of the data: their expertise on health professionals’ mobility and its impact on structures and processes of health systems will qualify the quantitative findings and explore what mobility means for the health systems and the persons and organisations involved.
Duration
2008 - 2011
Source of funding
Komisja Europejska, 7 Program Ramowy Unii Europejskiej, Ministerstwo Nauki i Informatyzacji
Partners
International Organization for Migration, Belgium and South Africa (IOM)
Medical University of Varna (MUV), Bulgaria
Institute of Health Policy and Development
Studies of the University of the Philippines (IHPDS)
Public Health Institute (PHI), USA
International Hospital Federation (IHF), France
International Council of Nurses (ICN), Switzerland
World Medical Association (WMA), France
European Medical Association (EMA), Belgium
Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), Switzerland
