Abstract
Over the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in oral health workforce planning. The purpose of this review is to examine oral health workforce planning models on supply, demand and needs, mainly in respect to their data sources, modelling technique and use of skill mix. A limited search was carried out on PubMed and Web of Science for published scientific articles on oral health workforce planning models between 2010 to 2020. No restrictions were placed on the type of modelling philosophy, and all studies including supply, demand or needs based models were included. Rapid review methods guided the review process. Twenty-three studies from 15 countries were included in the review. A majority were from high-income countries (n = 17). Dentists were the sole oral health workforce group modelled in 13 studies; only five studies included skill mix (allied dental personnel) considerations. The most common application of modelling was a workforce to population ratio or a needs-based demand weighted variant. Nearly all studies presented weaknesses in modelling process due to the limitations in data sources and/or non-availability of the necessary data to inform oral health workforce planning. Skill mix considerations in planning models were also limited to horizontal integration within oral health professionals. Planning for the future oral health workforce is heavily reliant on quality data being available for supply, demand and needs models. Integrated methodologies that expand skill mix considerations and account for uncertainty are essential for future planning exercises.
Highlights
The health workforce is the backbone of health systems, fundamental towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) [1,2,3]
We identify strengths and weaknesses in these workforce models and provide insights on how oral health workforce planning can evolve in the future to meet changing population needs and demands, improving health outcomes and health systems performance
Planning for the future oral health workforce is heavily reliant on quality data being available for supply, demand and needs models
Summary
Planning for the future health workforce is a complex process, requiring trade-offs across multiple health professional objectives in education, training and regulation, and numerous uncertainties due to transition health environments (demographic, epidemiologic and technology) [4]. In general health workforce planning aims to achieve a proper balance between supply and demand of health professionals [5]. The philosophy behind planning is to ensure the right number of health personnel, with the right training and skill sets are available at the right place and at the right time to meet population needs, but at an acceptable cost and quality [6]. Planning decisions on the number, type and distribution of health personnel depend and The process is not just technical, but a political one [6].
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