Workload Indicators of staffing need (WISN)
The health workforce is the fulcrum on which health system performance relies. Human resources for health as a strategic area of focus is crucial to affordable, accessible and high-quality health services. The ability of a country to meet its health commitments and goals largely depends on the number, skills, competencies and availability of health workers, and on whether those workers are organized and equitably distributed to deliver integrated, people-centred health services. The health workforce is essential to achieving universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Indicator 3.c.1, which relates to ”health workforce density and distribution” and improved data on human resources for health.
Health service managers around the world face increasing HRH challenges, such as:
The Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) method is based on a health worker’s workload, with activity (time) standards applied for each workload component. This principle has long been used in business but was not employed in the health sector until the late 1990s, when the WISN method was field tested and used in several countries.
Please visit the community of practice (self-registration) to access the software tool.
The health workforce is the fulcrum on which health system performance relies. Human resources for health (HRH) is crucial to affordable, accessible and...
This document, which complements the revised Workload indicators of staffing need (WISN): user’s manual, provides examples of how the WISN method...
Since the launch of the computerised version of the Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) tool in 2010, many countries have implemented WISN studies...
Publication of this Human Resources for Health journal supplement was supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Articles have undergone the journal's standard peer review process for supplements.
Countries that have been planning for health workforce using simple population ratios and health worker density benchmarks, realize that these traditional...
A major human resources for health challenge for Nigeria is ensuring the availability and retention of adequate competent health workers in the right mix...
A shortage in human resources, particularly physicians, has become a challenge confronting health authorities in the Duhok governorate, as these resources...
Health services cannot be delivered without an adequate, competent health workforce. Evidence suggests a direct relationship between density of health...