How Productive are Community Service Dentists?

Objectives: To evaluate the productivity of community service dentists and compare this to full-time dentists also working in the public sector in the Western Cape Province over the past 3 years. Methods: Data on all public dental services rendered each year in this province are collected on data sheets and captured on a management information system. The data for the period 2003 – 2005 was collated and analysed, but work done after hours (commuted overtime) was not included in this study. Relative Value Units (RVU's) were used to quantify the amount of work carried out. Two different RVU's were used, one was the 2005 fees used in the private sector, and the other RVU was one that has been adapted to weight procedures of more importance in the public sector. The average RVU's per quarter were compared between community service dentists and full-time dentists in the one urban and three rural regions of the province. Results: On average, community service dentists produce 82% of the turnover produced by full-time dentists when measured by the fees, and 74% of the turnover as measured by the weighted RVU's. Very similar differences are seen between both types of dentists in Urban and Rural regions. However, the overall productivity of both community service and full-time dentists in rural regions is 50% greater than their urban counterparts, and, rural community service dentists are more productive than full-time dentists in the urban region. Conclusion: Using these RVU's as a measure of productivity, it is seen that community service dentists are about 75% as productive as full-time dentists in both rural and urban regions of the Western Cape. However, rural dentists are 50% more productive than dentists in the urban region.