A comprehensive review and analysis of human resources for health planning tools to inform the development of a guidance toolkit for HRH planning

Effective human resources for health (HRH) planning ensures a balance between the workforce and patient needs, optimizing both the quality of care and job satisfaction of health and care workers. A diverse mix of approaches and planning methodologies tailored to various health-system contexts have been developed, however, many health systems have not implemented them effectively. This paper presents the findings of a rapid review of existing HRH planning tools available within the literature, aimed at informing WHO’s efforts to develop an HRH planning toolkit. A rapid review methodology was employed. A database search strategy and targeted grey literature search strategy were developed in consultation with experienced library scientists. Only documents written in English or French were included. Each source was carefully screened to ensure it met the inclusion criteria. Relevant articles were extracted and the data collected during this phase were used to conduct an analysis to classify tools into planning approaches (e.g., needs-based) and rate them along five domains (accessibility, capacity, adaptability, usability, and applicability). A total of 96 tools, applied across 184 countries, were identified from the 123 articles extracted. The tools were classified into eight planning approaches and assessed on ten criteria across the five domains. No tool received a high score across all assessment criteria. Four tools received high ratings on five key criteria - capacity for multi-professional and scenario-based planning, opportunity to engage stakeholders, adaptability across settings, and utility of results. However, these models require moderate user capacity and data requirements, necessitating disaggregate data for model operation and some prior knowledge in HRH planning from the user. Despite the widespread use of these tools, there is no consensus – within this review or amongst the broader HRH community - on a single “best” HRH planning tool. This review provides valuable insights for the further development of guidelines, encouraging and enabling countries to expand beyond their traditional planning processes and work towards sustained improvements in their health systems. The effectiveness of this project is greatly reliant on the WHO’s complementary capacity-building initiatives, which are essential for real-world uptake by countries. Not applicable.