REGIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH: ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF HEALTHCARE STAFFING SUPPLY

Abstract

Introduction: Adequate supply with healthcare staff remains one of the most significant challenges for public health in Russia. Suboptimal labor conditions and low payments have led to significant outflow of medical professionals from public to private health sector resulting in insufficient number of doctors and nurses, but the impact of this lack of personnel has not been assessed. Aim: To study associations between staffing in medical organizations and population morbidity in 2009-2018 in Ryazan region. Methods: Secondary data on population morbidity and staffing of medical organizations for the period from 2009 to 2018 were used for all analyses. Results: Total morbidity in the Ryazan region decreased from 7 400.3 to 7 214.9 per 10 thousand. Significant urban-rural differences were observed. In 2018, urban morbidity exceeded rural morbidity by 80 %. Staffing of healthcare system has been decreasing over the study period which is in line with the national trend. The number of doctors has been decreasing more rapidly than the number of nurses. Conclusions: Staffing of medical organizations is associated with population morbidity. Further research should concentrate on the factors that could explain the observed associations.