assessment of health manpower at oral and dental health centers ın turkey with regard to human resources and workload

• Published in: SSTB International Refereed Academic Journal of Sports, Health and Medical Sciences Vol. 2016; no. 18; pp. 29 - 42
• Main Authors: Uğurlu,Mehmet, Öztaş,Dilek, Üstü,Yusuf, Demiralp,Kemal Özgür, Güzeldemirci,Gamze Bozcuk, Karahan,Sevilay, Özgül,Ercan, Kartal,İsmail
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Güven Plus Grup A.Ş 2016
• Subjects: Tıp; İstanbul; Türkiye; Manpower; Turkey; Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı Merkezi; Diş Hekimi; İnsangücü; İşyükü; Türkiye; Dental Health Services; Dentists; Workload
• ISSN: 2146-8508; 2147-1711
• DOI: 10.17363/SSTB.20161816490

Turkey has problems starting with manpower shortageand transportation problems to deliver health care services.Inthis study, we aimed to evaluate the numbers of dentists working atOral and Dental Health Centers (ODHCs) and Hospitals (ODHHs)according to years as the health manpower in these institutes, and toinvestigate the admission rates regarding health transition projects inour country. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional retrospectivestudy compares the data obtained from ODHCs/ ODHHs countrywidebetween 2010-2014. Results: The number of the dentists working atODHCs/ODHHs has increased by 10,2% between 2010-2014. Thenumber of dentists per 100,000 persons has risen by 0.46%. The numberof admissions per capita has increased by 60% and thereby theoutpatient clinic workload has also increased by 49%. An improvementhas been observed in human resources regarding dentists countrywide;however, a significant increase has occurred in the workload parallelto the increase in admissions. Conclusion: The results of this analysisare consistent with the increased population and increased provisionof services in the context of “Health Transformation Program”. Theefforts for increasing the quality and quantity of health workers, mainlydentists in ODHCs/ODHHs, eliminating the differences between regions,and the integration of oral and dental health services into familymedicine practice are promising. It is required to introduce communitybasedoral and dental health programs to make an integration betweenall sectors providing oral and dental health services to improve oral anddental health and reduce treatment costs in Turkey. Still, it would taketime to achieve the desired high quality service standards despite theincrease in number of dentists. Family medicine practice is promisingfor the integration of services, institution of referral chain system andimprovement of health level indicators