Using staffing ratios for workforce planning: evidence on nine allied health professions

Human Resources for Health

Review

Lorraine Sheppard¹  Tracy A Comans²  Michele J Clark³  Susan Ash³  Linda Cartmill³ 

[1] Division of Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, The University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia;School of Public Health, Tropic Medicine & Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia;School of Medicine, Griffith University, University Drive, 4131, Meadowbrook, Australia;School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Rd, 4059, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Australia;

关键词: Ally Health Profession;    Full Time Equivalent;    Workforce Planning;    Staffing Ratio;    Ally Health Service;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1478-4491-10-2

 received in 2010-10-25, accepted in 2012-02-01,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundModern healthcare managers are faced with pressure to deliver effective, efficient services within the context of fixed budget constraints. Managers are required to make decisions regarding the skill mix of the workforce particularly when staffing new services. One measure used to identify numbers and mix of staff in healthcare settings is workforce ratio. The aim of this study was to identify workforce ratios in nine allied health professions and to identify whether these measures are useful for planning allied health workforce requirements.MethodsA systematic literature search using relevant MeSH headings of business, medical and allied health databases and relevant grey literature for the period 2000-2008 was undertaken.ResultsTwelve articles were identified which described the use of workforce ratios in allied health services. Only one of these was a staffing ratio linked to clinical outcomes. The most comprehensive measures were identified in rehabilitation medicine.ConclusionThe evidence for use of staffing ratios for allied health practitioners is scarce and lags behind the fields of nursing and medicine.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Cartmill et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.