RESUMEN
Background: The significant health development achieved in Palestine last decades has been lost, in Gaza particularly. This requires fundamental health system reform and rebuilding, including health workforces. Strengthening health workforces involves essential elements: leadership, finance, policy, education, partnership, and management. The current unprecedented catastrophe in Gaza and overall instability in Palestine show the utmost necessity for rethinking and reforming all pillars of the already collapsed health system, including the workforce. Health Workforce Accreditation and Regulation (HWAR) standardizes healthcare evaluations, representing a critical research area in Palestine due to limited existing knowledge. Objective: This study aims to enhance understanding of the HWAR in Palestine, and identify gaps and weaknesses, thereby enhancing the HWAR's development and optimization. Methods: This qualitative study used an inductive approach to explore the landscape of HWAR. Data were collected from October to November 2019, when 22 semi-structured in-depth interviews - were conducted with experts, academics, leaders, and policymakers purposely selected from government, academia, and non-governmental organization sectors. Data analysis, namely, thematic and ground theory, was performed using Excel and MS programs. Findings: The study revealed an absence of transparent governance and ineffective communication within HWAR systems. National policies and guidelines are problematic, with HWAR mechanisms fractured and needing reform. Licensing for healthcare workers hinges on local education, while monitoring and evaluation of HWAR are deficient. Some institutions adhere to HWAR standards, yet widespread updates and applications are necessary. Coordination among educational, accreditation, and practice sectors is non-systematic. Adequate human resources exist, but we need to improve HWAR management. Operational and political challenges limit HWAR, leading to a focus on immediate responses over sustainable system integration. Conclusion: Boosting HWAR is critical for Palestine, especially after the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis that led to the dysfunction of the entire health system facilities. A collaborative strategy across sectors is needed to improve governance and outcomes. It is essential to foster strategic dialogue among academia, regulatory entities, and healthcare providers to enhance the HWAR system. Further study on HWAR's effectiveness is recommended.
RESUMEN
There have been increased calls for a diverse nursing workforce to resolve health inequities. While the diversity of the nursing workforce slowly improves, it lags in comparison to the diversity of the United States population. The lack of diversity in academic nursing is the root cause of the lack of a diverse nursing workforce. A groundwater approach, as developed by the Racial Equity Institute, is used to analyze systemic barriers in nursing education that hinder achieving student diversity. Using this approach, recommendations are offered to educators and regulatory organizations to change policies and practices. Inclusive educational policies and teaching practices should be adopted to recruit and retain diverse students and faculty. Nursing education accrediting bodies must implement standards requiring programs to adopt holistic admission reviews and measurable diversity outcomes for students, faculty, and staff. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing must establish a common national licensure passing standard that is based either on graduation date or upon the first attempt and includes multiple attempts within a given time frame. A groundwater approach requires a mindset shift to focus on the environment and changes in practice and policy to overcome the current structural barriers in nursing education if there is ever to be a diverse nursing workforce.