Rehabilitation Service Assessment and Workforce Capacity Building in Albania—A Civil Society Approach

Boya Nugraha,Christoph Gutenbrunner,Klejda Tani

doi:10.3390/ijerph17197300

Abstract

Background: Rehabilitation is an important health strategy. Due to the lack of rehabilitation professionals (e.g., no physical and rehabilitation medicine, occupational therapist, and others) and lack of rehabilitation services (e.g., no multi-profession rehabilitation services in hospital, no post-acute rehabilitation services, no community-based rehabilitation services), the need to strengthen rehabilitation in Albania was pronounced. Therefore, this project aimed at rehabilitation service assessment and workforce capacity building in Albania. Methods: The World Health Organization’s Template for Rehabilitation Information Collection was used to collect available data related to rehabilitation services. Additionally, two site visits to different rehabilitation centers including interviews with relevant stakeholders were performed. A stakeholders’ workshop to prioritize recommendations was also performed before finalizing the report. Results: In Albania, rehabilitation service delivery, rehabilitation workforces, and financing in rehabilitation need to be strengthened. Conclusions: The project achieved the intended objectives. Additionally progress has been occurring in the development and implementation of the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine specialization at the University of Medicine, Tirana.

Highlights

Rehabilitation is a health strategy that enables people experiencing disability to achieve and maintain optimal functioning [1]
The civil society, which was represented by the Faculty of Technical Medical Sciences of Tirana University of Medicine, took the initiative to systematically analyze the rehabilitation system in Albania with the main focus on rehabilitation service provision and rehabilitation workforce capacity. This project has been realized in partnership with the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. This project aimed at rehabilitation service assessment and workforce capacity building in Albania based on existing data and compared with the standard given in the recommendation by the World
The sex distribution in Albania consists of 49.95% male and 50.05% female, with life expectancy of 78.34 years

Summary

Introduction

Rehabilitation is a health strategy that enables people experiencing disability to achieve and maintain optimal functioning [1]. The World Report on Disability (WRD) [5] has shown, based on statistical data, that in many countries around the world, rehabilitation is not available or has a low standard; and in many others, not everyone in need has access to such services. Due to the lack of rehabilitation professionals (e.g., no physical and rehabilitation medicine, occupational therapist, and others) and lack of rehabilitation services (e.g., no multi-profession rehabilitation services in hospital, no post-acute rehabilitation services, no community-based rehabilitation services), the need to strengthen rehabilitation in Albania was pronounced. This project aimed at rehabilitation service assessment and workforce capacity building in Albania. Progress has been occurring in the development and implementation of the Physical and Rehabilitation

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion