Workload capacity measures for estimating allied health staffing requirements

Abstract

Workforce planning methodologies for the allied health professions are acknowledged as rudimentary despite the increasing importance of these professions to health care across the spectrum of health services settings. The objectives of this study were to (i) identify workload capacity measures and methods for profiling allied health workforce requirements from a systematic review of the international literature; (ii) explore the use of these methods in planning workforce requirements; (iii) identify barriers to applying such methods; and (iv) recommend further action.Future approaches to workforce planning were explored through a systematic review of the literature, interviews with key stakeholders and focus group discussions with representatives from the different professional bodies and health agencies in Victoria.Results identified a range of methods used to calculate workload requirements or capacity. In order of increasing data demands and costliness to implement, workload capacity methods can be broadly classified into four groups: ratio-based, procedure-based, categories of care-based and diagnostic or casemix-based. Despite inherent limitations, the procedure-based measurement approach appears to be most widely accepted. Barriers to more rigorous workforce planning methods are discussed and future directions explored through an examination of the potential ALLIED HEALTH has been recognised as an increasingly important discipline in health care management, particularly in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases that affect ageing populations. 1 Providing allied health services outside major urban areas is becoming an increasing challenge to workforce planners and health serv- What is known about the topic?The lack of definitional consistency about workload measurement has hampered workforce planning. In its simple form workload measurement can be seen as quantifying the relationship between service activity or demand, the required tasks to be performed, and the units of labour needed to perform the tasks. Expressed in reverse, the "labour required" becomes workload capacity, the amount of work or activity a unit of labour can deliver. What does this paper add?This paper contributes to the research on workforce planning relevant to the allied health professions. Specific contributions include the generation of a typology of workload capacity methods categorised according to increasing data and resource intensity: (1) ratio-based methodologies; (2) procedure-based methodologies; (3) categories of care-based methodologies; and (4) diagnostic or casemixbased methodologies. A fifth approach which is a combination of all four methods was also identified. What are the implications?Creating rigorous system-wide methodologies will require significant investment. A first step could be to build on sophisticated and valid frameworks developed from the work of the National Allied Health Casemix Committee. These data could be fed into the development of a broader platform approach able to be adjusted f...

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