IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ijhplm/v36y2021is1p71-91.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health workforce response to Covid‐19: What pandemic preparedness planning and action at the federal and state levels in Germany?

Author

Listed:
  • Julia Köppen
  • Kimberly Hartl
  • Claudia B. Maier

Abstract

Introduction The Covid‐19 pandemic has required countries to prepare their health workforce for a rapid increase of patients. This research aims to analyse the planning and health workforce policies in Germany, a country with a largely decentralised workforce governance mechanism. Methods Systematic search between 18 and 31 May 2020 at federal and 16 states on health workforce action and planning (websites of ministries of health, public health authorities), including pandemic preparedness plans and policies. The search followed World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe's health workforce guidance on Covid‐19. Content analysis was performed, informed by the themes of WHO. Results The pandemic preparedness plans consisted of no or limited information on how to expand and prepare the health workforce during pandemics. The 16 states varied considerably regarding implementing strategies to expand health workforce capacities. Only one state adopted a policy on task‐shifting despite a federal law on task‐shifting during pandemics. Conclusions Planning on the health workforce, its capacity and skill‐mix during pandemics was limited in the pandemic response plans. Actions during the peak of the pandemic varied considerably across states, were implemented ad hoc and with limited planning. Future action should focus on integrated planning and evaluation of workforce policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Köppen & Kimberly Hartl & Claudia B. Maier, 2021. "Health workforce response to Covid‐19: What pandemic preparedness planning and action at the federal and state levels in Germany?," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(S1), pages 71-91, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:36:y:2021:i:s1:p:71-91
    DOI: 10.1002/hpm.3146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3146
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hpm.3146?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peng Liu & Yonggang Liu & Yiran Peng & Jean-François Lamarque & Mingxing Wang & Yongyun Hu, 2020. "Large influence of dust on the Precambrian climate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Winkelmann, Juliane & Webb, Erin & Williams, Gemma A. & Hernández-Quevedo, Cristina & Maier, Claudia B. & Panteli, Dimitra, 2022. "European countries' responses in ensuring sufficient physical infrastructure and workforce capacity during the first COVID-19 wave," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(5), pages 362-372.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas, Veronica L. & Fowler, Kendra, 2023. "Examining the outcomes of influencer activism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:36:y:2021:i:s1:p:71-91. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0749-6753 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.