Economic Aspects of Projecting Requirements for Health Manpower.

TLDR: A review, critique, and synthesis of, as well as contribution to, the expanding literature on health manpower requirements can be found in this paper, where several invited papers vary in emphasis, both by virtue of the specific assignment and the author's particular background.

Abstract: In a symposium on methods of projecting requirements for health manpower, the several invited papers vary in emphasis, both by virtue of the specific assignment and the author's particular background. This paper, which focuses on the methods employed by economists, is intended to serve as a review, critique, and synthesis of, as well as contribution to, the expanding literature on health manpower requirements [10; 36; 37, pp. 26577]. It helps illuminate the approaches employed by economists if certain other well-known approaches are described or at least illustrated. Accordingly, this paper precedes the economist's approach to projecting health manpower requirements by discussing two other approaches-need as determined by professional standards and personnel to population ratios. Future requirements are based, implicitly or explicitly, on certain assumptions or beliefs concerning the present or recent past. Part II of the paper deals with approaches to determining whether or not a shortage of personnel has existed. Part III of the paper extends the usual discussion of requirements for manpower in two ways. It puts on the demand side of the equation items that generally occur under the heading of supply-gains in provider productivity and requirements for replacement.