Information Systems for Health Human Resources Management

The need to systematize information on health human resources is quite recent and still little recognized. Although there are some available sources, few are updated and provide insufficient information, often with restricted access, especially in datafiles from other sectors. The existing information is fragmented and limited, what makes it difficult to outline the profile of health workers and the offer of graduate courses in this sector.

The use of specific information systems for health human resources is fundamental to qualify work and educational management processes, as well as to reorganize health systems practices.

The lack of disaggregated data on human resources, both in health and education sectors, is one of the main limitations for the development of joint politics between both segments. Since 1999, the IMS-UERJ Workstation of the Human Resources for Health Observatory Network has been improving its activities related to the development of information systems to help managers make policies in the field of work management and education.

The systems developed here aim to collect and to process updated and reliable data on aspects concerning health professionals and workers, so as to characterize the existing situation, and to reveal the critical points in the establishment of human resources policies that promote the necessary transformations for the consolidation of the Health National Systems.

So, acknowledging the importance of access to systematized information on human resources, we designed and made available the Information and Management System of Human Resources for Health - SIGRHS, for planning and management of health workforce; and the Directory of Graduate Institutions in the Health Area - SIGRAS, to analyze the evolution of offer of health graduate courses.