Building and Sustaining the Health Workforce: Education, Scope of Practice, Workforce Well-Being, and Health Human Resources Across the Care Continuum

Background:
Health systems worldwide are facing unprecedented workforce challenges driven by demographic change, increasing care complexity, workforce shortages, changing models of care, and evolving population needs. While considerable attention has focused on recruitment and retention, sustainable solutions require a broader understanding of the entire health workforce ecosystem, from education and training to professional practice, career development, leadership, and policy. At the same time, expanding scopes of practice, interprofessional collaboration, digital transformation, and new models of care are reshaping how healthcare professionals contribute across settings. Despite growing evidence in these areas, research remains fragmented across professions and disciplines. The central question guiding this Special Issue is: How can health systems develop and sustain a resilient, adaptable, and effective health workforce by aligning education, workforce policy, professional practice, leadership, innovation, and well-being? The papers in this collection examine this question from complementary disciplinary and methodological perspectives, collectively advancing evidence to support health workforce transformation across diverse settings.


Goal (approx. 100-200 words)
Health systems worldwide require health professionals who are prepared not only with clinical knowledge and technical competence, but also with the adaptability, collaborative skills, professional identity, and critical perspectives needed to navigate increasingly complex healthcare environments. Yet the transition from education to practice often exposes tensions between the values, competencies, and ideals fostered during training and the realities of clinical practice. Workplace cultures, hidden curricula, organizational structures, and system pressures can either reinforce or undermine educational goals, influencing professional identity, workforce well-being, collaboration, career sustainability, and ultimately the quality of patient care. This Research Topic is guided by the central question: How can health professions education better prepare learners for the realities of contemporary practice while contributing to a sustainable, equitable, and collaborative health workforce? We seek scholarship that examines the dynamic relationship between education and practice across the continuum from pre-licensure education through transition to practice and continuing professional development. Rather than viewing workforce challenges solely as recruitment or retention problems, this collection aims to explore how educational experiences interact with workplace environments, organizational cultures, and evolving models of care to shape professional identity, collaboration, well-being, and long-term workforce sustainability. Particular emphasis will be placed on research that critically examines how health professions education can promote equity, support successful transitions into practice, prepare learners for evolving professional roles, and address structural factors that influence workforce experiences across diverse health professions and care settings.

Scope and information for authors (approx. 100-150 words)
This Research Topic welcomes interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the intersection of health professions education and professional practice across the educational continuum. We particularly encourage submissions that examine how educational approaches shape, and are reshaped by, the realities of clinical practice, organizational contexts, and changing health systems.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
1. Clinical education, experiential learning, and transition to professional practice
2. Professional identity formation, the hidden curriculum, and socialization into practice
3. Interprofessional education and collaborative practice across learning and workplace settings
4. Educational strategies that prepare learners for evolving scopes of practice and new models of care
5. Mentorship, coaching, supervision, and learner support throughout the transition to practice
6. Leadership development as an educational outcome across the professional continuum
7. Educational approaches that promote workforce well-being while critically examining the structural, organizational, and systemic determinants of burnout, resilience, and psychological safety
8. Equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, anti-racism, and culturally responsive approaches within health professions education and professional transitions
9. Digital health, artificial intelligence, and technology-enhanced learning to prepare future health professionals
10. Patient, family, and community engagement in health professions education
11. Continuing professional development, lifelong learning, and educational innovation across professional careers.

We welcome Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews, Review Articles, Brief Research Reports, Methods Papers, Policy and Practice Reviews, Perspective Articles, Community Case Studies, and Conceptual or Theoretical Papers that advance understanding of how health professions education can better prepare learners for the realities of practice and contribute to sustainable, equitable, and collaborative healthcare systems.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Health human resources, health workforce, healthcare professionals, workforce planning, health professions education, interprofessional education, cope of practice, role optimization, workforce retention, workforce sustainability, recruitment, burnout, well-being, professional identity, career transitions, collaborative practice, leadership, policy, health systems

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.