The difficulty in the recruitment of dental staffs by size of dental institution

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine demand of the dental staffs according to the size of the dental institutions. A survey was conducted through Google Survey, and 2,223 respondents(the member of the Korean Dental Association) were the final subjects of the study. The independent variable was the size of the dental institution set by the number of dental chairs, and the dependent variable was the difficulty in the recruitment of dental staffs, the time required to recruit, and tasks requiring additional staff. As a result of the study, there was a significant difference in the difficulty in the recruitment of dental staffs and the need of task by size of dental institution. The average difficulty in the recruitment of dental hygienists was 8.49, and 4 to 5 dental unit chairs scored the highest at 8.76. The average difficulty in the recruitment of auxiliary nurse was 6.48, and 1 to 3 dental unit chairs scored the highest at 6.83. For tasks requiring additional workers, the removal of calculus(scaling) and surgical assistance were the highest in all-scale institution. The need for suction and treatment preparation was relatively high in small-scale dental institution, and the need for dental impression and preventive hygiene was high in large-scale dental institution. In conclusion, it is necessary to approach the resolution of the dental staff recruitment difficulties differ-ently depending on the institutions's scale. It is suggested for small dental institution the regular training of dental assistants to assist in chair-side treatment, and for larger dental institution, it is suggested a policy to utilize existing dental hygienists.