Projecting the Target Quantity of Medical Staff in Taiwan’s Administrative Regions by the Theory of Carrying Capacity

Jin-Li Hu (), Ming-Chung Chang and Hsin-Jung Chung
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Ming-Chung Chang: Department of Finance, Chihlee University of Technology, New Taipei City 22050, Taiwan
Hsin-Jung Chung: Institute of Business and Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taipei City 10044, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: As physicians and nurses are the main medical staff in any healthcare system, an appropriate medical workforce distribution is crucial for an aging society. This study thus applies the theory of carrying capacity and the given demand side to explore the carrying capacity, carrying efficiency, and potential adjustment ratio of medical staff in Taiwan’s administrative regions by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in which a lower carrying efficiency implies a higher shortage ratio. The main findings are as follows. (i) The carrying efficiency of Taiwan’s medical staff is weakening year by year, while the carrying efficiency of the country’s nurses is lower than that of physicians. (ii) The outlying islands of Taiwan have a more serious shortage of physicians and nurses than the main island. (iii) The central government should encourage more physicians and nurses to work in regions with a low carrying efficiency.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; carrying capacity; carrying efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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