IADR Abstract Archives
Operational Research: Needs-led Workforce Estimations For A Low Income Country
Objectives: In Sierra Leone (SL) dental care is very limited, largely private, focused in capital Freetown in the Western region and there is no formal dental education. The objective of this research was to estimate baseline oral health and treatment needs and human resource for oral health to inform capacity building.
Methods: A static operational research (OR) model was developed in EXCEL using weighted epidemiological data (through ‘International Caries Classification and Management System’-ICCMS) from our recent national oral health survey of children in SL and demographic data. The model then estimated treatment needs based on current disease management approaches, evidence on clinical timings and an expert panel on relevant scenarios of care for a low-income country using mid-level providers (Dental Therapists-DTs), with findings extrapolated for the population.
Results: Weighted data of national level oral health survey of 6-, 12- and 15-years old school-children of SL, suggest an estimated 31,044, 18,640 and 29,703 children respectively, requiring extractions of 139,405 teeth across all three-key age groups. Considering a ‘preventative & surgical’ scenario for oral disease management, an estimated range of 27-66 DTs will be needed to treat current oral disease in key age groups, and when extrapolated to wider SL population, OR model estimated between 927 to 2,762 DTs required. OR model showed that estimates of DTs for SL predicted through ‘conventional scenario (range 1,885-7,364)’ were at least double when compared to ‘preventative only (895-935)’, and ‘preventative & surgical (927-2,762)’ scenarios respectively.
Conclusions: The study highlights the benefit of using contemporary epidemiological tools and OR modelling to estimate baseline treatment needs and approximate human resource for oral health required based on different scenarios of oral disease management which would be useful to inform health policy and workforce capacity building nationally in SL.
Methods: A static operational research (OR) model was developed in EXCEL using weighted epidemiological data (through ‘International Caries Classification and Management System’-ICCMS) from our recent national oral health survey of children in SL and demographic data. The model then estimated treatment needs based on current disease management approaches, evidence on clinical timings and an expert panel on relevant scenarios of care for a low-income country using mid-level providers (Dental Therapists-DTs), with findings extrapolated for the population.
Results: Weighted data of national level oral health survey of 6-, 12- and 15-years old school-children of SL, suggest an estimated 31,044, 18,640 and 29,703 children respectively, requiring extractions of 139,405 teeth across all three-key age groups. Considering a ‘preventative & surgical’ scenario for oral disease management, an estimated range of 27-66 DTs will be needed to treat current oral disease in key age groups, and when extrapolated to wider SL population, OR model estimated between 927 to 2,762 DTs required. OR model showed that estimates of DTs for SL predicted through ‘conventional scenario (range 1,885-7,364)’ were at least double when compared to ‘preventative only (895-935)’, and ‘preventative & surgical (927-2,762)’ scenarios respectively.
Conclusions: The study highlights the benefit of using contemporary epidemiological tools and OR modelling to estimate baseline treatment needs and approximate human resource for oral health required based on different scenarios of oral disease management which would be useful to inform health policy and workforce capacity building nationally in SL.