[Required manpower for health care and nursing services for the aged at home public health nurses, visiting nurses, dental hygienists, dietitians, physical therapists, and occupational therapists].
The purpose of this study was to estimate the manpower required for the health care and nursing services for the aged at home. For prefectural health care and welfare planning for the aged, data such as the proportion of the aged who need help, service demand, and required frequency of services were obtained. The means and "mean +/- 2 x standard deviations" were calculated to obtain various parameters. Calculated figures were those which can be obtained with some effort. The results are as follows (middle level estimation (low level estimation-high level estimation)): requirements are 1.9 (0.61-5.7) public health nurses, 2.6 (0.63-14) visiting nurses, 0.20 (0.084-0.42) dental hygienists, 0.35 (0.17-0.66) dietitians, and 0.25 (0.014-1.27) physical and occupational therapists per population 10,000. For the national total, requirements are 23 (7.3-67) thousand public health nurses, 31 (7.5-160) thousand visiting nurses, 2.4 (1.0-5.0) thousand dental hygienists, 3.9 (2.0-7.8) thousand dietitians, and 3.0 (0.17-15) thousand physical and occupational therapists. By population sizes, for example in the municipalities which has 10-30 thousand people, required are 4.2 (1.7-11) public health nurses, 5.3 (1.3-27) visiting nurses, 0.4 (0.2-0.8) dental hygienists, 0.5 (0.3-0.9) dietitians, and 0.5 (0.0-2.5) physical and occupational therapists. Comparison of the present numbers with estimated manpower needs show that, the present number of public health personnel is almost the same as the low level estimation. But the present numbers of other manpower is lower than the low level estimation. Considering other services such as maternal and child health, it seems that the municipalities which has 10+ thousand population should employ full-time dietitians and dental hygienists. For policy making in a municipality, the policies of other municipalities should be considered. Because it is based on means for municipalities, the results of this study should be useful for application by other municipalities.
Ojima
T
T
Department of Public Health, Jichi Medical School.
Saito
E
E
Kanagawa
K
K
Sakata
K
K
Yanagawa
H
H
D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006699:Home Care Services; D007564:Japan; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011637:Public Health Nursing; D000078329:Workforce