Tennant Marc, Kruger Estie, Shiyha Julia
International Research Collaborative - Oral Health and Equity, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Rural Remote Health. 2013 Oct-Dec;13(4):2518. Epub 2013 Oct 7.
Australia is the sixth largest country (in area) in the world with a total area of over 7.5 million km² (3 million miles²). To date much of the research and policy activity in the dental workforce has been based on simple statistical analysis including practitioner-to-population ratios; however, risks are associated with the application of these types of ratios. This study examined practice-to-population (PtP) ratios as a measure of accessibility.
Two states of Australia with a total population of about 8 million people were chosen for the study data frame-set.
General dental practice (n=3841) locations were mapped against population for each state and each suburb (n=3545) within each state. Practice-to-population ratios for each suburb differed by almost 40,000% (ranging from 1:52 to 1:20,100) with the greatest density of practices in the core of the capital cities - coincident with high wealth areas.
The study found that PtP ratios in the context of workforce mal-distribution and geographic impediments to access is an important measure.
澳大利亚是世界上面积第六大的国家，总面积超过750万平方公里（300万平方英里）。迄今为止，牙科劳动力方面的许多研究和政策活动都是基于简单的统计分析，包括从业者与人口的比例；然而，应用这类比例存在风险。本研究将诊所与人口比例（PtP）作为衡量可及性的一项指标进行了考察。
选取澳大利亚的两个州作为研究数据框架集，这两个州的总人口约为800万。
针对每个州及其内的每个郊区（共3545个），将普通牙科诊所（共3841个）的位置与人口进行了映射。每个郊区的诊所与人口比例相差近40000%（从1:52到1:20100），首府城市核心区域的诊所密度最大，这些区域也是高财富地区。
该研究发现，在劳动力分布不均和地理可及性障碍的背景下，诊所与人口比例是一项重要指标。
