A model for personnel planning and administration in a family planning program.

Abstract

A model of the capacity of a family planning service to attend patients is presented and an explanation of its use in the estimation of the personnel required is given. Originally the model was applied to the Louisiana Family Planning Program. As a first step the capacity of each type of personnel in a clinic is defined. The time that should be required by doctors nurses and auxiliary personnel to perform certain activities in the clinic is determined. Data on the number of times the activity actually is performed per unit of time are needed. In evaluating the capacity of a clinic it should be observed that the different personnel in a family planning clinic are not generally speaking interchangeable. In a clinic where doctors time is fully occupied an increase in the number of nurses or auxiliaries would not add anything to output. It follows that the capacity of a clinic is the minimum of the capacity of the different types of personnel available. A comparison between capacity and actual number of visits is even more important for administrative purposes. The efficiency of a clinic is equal to the percentage of the time available that is actually used. The information on the level of efficiency of a clinic should be complemented by information about the personnel needed to achieve an efficiency level considered reasonable. A comparison of personnel hours required with those actually available will suggest convenient modifications.