The Medical journal of Australia
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To assess the adequacy of the Northern Territory health workforce with respect to population size and burden of disease, overall and by selected health specialties; to assess its sustainability by investigating changes in workforce numbers. ⋯ Health worker population density alone does not reliably assess health workforce needs; burden of disease information is important for workforce planning that meets population health needs. The NT health workforce needs to be increased by about 28% to reflect the population burden of disease and injury. Shortages in the NT health workforce must be eliminated to close health gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
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To describe the barriers to and facilitators of implementing and delivering virtual hospital (VH) services, and evidence and practice gaps where further research and policy changes are needed to drive continuous improvement. ⋯ Our findings can help inform the development of new VH services and the improvement of existing VH services. As VH services become more mainstream, gaps in evidence and practice must be addressed by future research and policy changes to maximise the benefits.