Health Human Resources Trends: A Systematic Review of the Past Decade

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthcare human resources as one of the basic building blocks of the health system. Human resources drive the health system. The WHO has reported a global shortage of health workers. When the demand for healthcare is higher than the supply, problems can arise in terms of healthcare human resources and delivery. Some studies suggest that there is an insufficient number of healthcare employees in Turkey, whereas others report that the number of healthcare workers is sufficient in some health fields. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has influenced the whole world, has also changed the profession choices of young people, who are now placing the professions related to healthcare at the top of their list. Therefore, both the demand for and the interest in the healthcare sector and the related occupations are likely to increase. As health human resources planning grows in importance, carrying out this study during the pandemic period becomes critical. Considering the importance of health human resource planning and university education, and focusing on the human resources trends in the healthcare sector, this study analyzed the number of health-related faculties and programs, student quotas, academic staff, and the number of students per faculty member. The findings indicate that the number and student quota of all the healthcare programs and faculties have increased rapidly in the past decade; however, the number of academic staff in some programs remains insufficient.