Determination of Health Workforce Need Based on Workload: A Study on Dentist in Turkey

Objective: This study aims to determine the need for dentists staffing for oral and dental health services according to the workload indicators of staffing need (WISN) method developed by the World Health Organization. Materials and Methods: The methodology and formulas in the WISN were used to analyze the data. Two different sources were utilized in collecting the data: the number of dentists and the number of services produced were retrieved from the report published by the MoH, and the activities generating workload and the average duration of such activities were obtained from the interviews with the specialists. The oral and dental institutions serving as affiliated to the MoH in Turkey were selected in the study. Results: The WISN ratio was calculated as 0.978 in oral and dental health centers, 0.945 in oral and dental health hospitals, 1.250 in public hospitals, and 1.014 for all institutions, respectively. These results revealed that the total number of dentists was more than the actual workload-based staffing need (n=122), but the dentists were not evenly distributed among the three institutions. It was found that there was a surplus of dentist staffing in public hospitals where the workload was low (n=344). Conclusion: Instead of staffing a standard number of dentists in health institutions, it should be ensured to use workload-based planning methods, to staff dentists in institutions with high workload, and to strengthen evaluation and monitoring activities. The findings of this research can be used in planning the number of students to be enrolled in the faculties of dentistry.