Health Manpower Resources: Patterns and Trends. A Study of Health Manpower in Iowa.

摘要

A study of patterns and trends in health manpower resources for the State of Iowa is discussed. Data for the study were obtained from three major sources: licensure records, records maintained by professional organizations and occupational associations, and data collected in the course of special research projects carried out by the Health Economics Research Center of the University of Iowa. Professions critical to the production of health services were examined, and Iowa's position relative to the United States and six midwestern States adjoining Iowa was evaluated in terms of health manpower resources. It was found that Iowa compared favorably with the Nation and with adjoining States in terms of pharmacists, professional nurses, and short-term hospital beds. In subsequent phases of the study, 15 health manpower occupations were examined, including medicine and osteopathy, professional nursing, practical nursing, dentistry, podiatry, chiropractice, optometry, pharmacy, dental hygiene, medical technology, dietetic and nutritional services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, radiologic technology, and speech pathology and audiology. Study results showed a relative scarcity of health manpower in rural areas relative to urban areas. It was also demonstrated that medical service capacity concentrated regionally at several nodes throughout Iowa in a pattern not unlike area partitioning of the State for administrative purposes.