Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1010, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2009 Dec;140(12):1527-34. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2009.0105.
State dental boards maintain minimal demographic and practice characteristics about licensed dentists. The authors describe the creation and monitoring of an enhanced surveillance system concerning Iowa's dentists.
The Iowa Dentist Tracking System (IDTS) was used to collect demographic, educational, practice arrangement, office location and work hour data for all active Iowa dentists beginning in 1997. IDTS staff members add newly licensed dentists to the system as practice locations become available. They also contact each dental office semiannually by telephone to update this information. The IDTS Advisory Committee meets annually to review these data and monitor trends.
The Iowa dentist workforce was relatively stable from 1997 through 2007; however, a large number of dentists are expected to retire during the next decade, which could create a shortage of providers, especially in rural areas. Although the percentage of male and female dentists who practice part time (< 32 hours per week) decreased between 1997 and 2007, young female dentists are more likely than young male dentists to practice part time.
IDTS is a workforce tracking model that can be used to understand trends at the community, regional and state levels. An aging dentist workforce in Iowa could put a strain on the public's ability to access dental care, especially in rural counties.
In the development of workforce policy, workforce tracking systems such as IDTS provide additional information in considering the number of dentists, location, accessibility and potential productivity of a workforce.
州牙科委员会维护着持照牙医的最低人口统计和执业特征。作者描述了一个关于爱荷华州牙医的强化监测系统的创建和监测。
自 1997 年以来，爱荷华牙医追踪系统（IDTS）用于收集所有在职爱荷华州牙医的人口统计学、教育背景、执业安排、办公地点和工作时间数据。IDTS 工作人员在有新的执业地点时将新获得执照的牙医添加到系统中。他们还每半年通过电话联系每个牙科办公室更新这些信息。IDTS 顾问委员会每年开会审查这些数据并监测趋势。
从 1997 年到 2007 年，爱荷华州牙医劳动力相对稳定；然而，预计在未来十年内，大量牙医将退休，这可能导致提供者短缺，尤其是在农村地区。尽管 1997 年至 2007 年间兼职（每周工作时间少于 32 小时）的男女牙医比例有所下降，但年轻女牙医比年轻男牙医更有可能兼职。
IDTS 是一种劳动力跟踪模型，可用于了解社区、地区和州各级的趋势。爱荷华州老龄化的牙医劳动力可能会对公众获得牙科护理的能力造成压力，尤其是在农村县。
在制定劳动力政策时，劳动力跟踪系统（如 IDTS）提供了有关牙医数量、地点、可及性和潜在生产力的其他信息。
