Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1439-1442
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Documenting a shortage of psychiatrists: the repair shop model
DJ Knesper
The author presents a model for documenting a shortage of psychiatrists.
The model employs efficiency, work load, and work time to determine numbers
of psychiatrists needed for a hospital setting. Survey data collected from
900 psychiatrists were used to quantify these variables and to identify
possible determinants of variation. Differences in residency training were
associated with differences in efficiency. As presented, the model is
incomplete and cannot be used to explicity define manpower requirements.
The author's discussion expands the model and focuses on the complexity of
documenting a true shortage or surplus of psychiatrists.
