Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21034458›Full record

ArticleHuman resources for health2010

Forecasting the need for medical specialists in Spain: application of a system dynamics model.

Patricia Barber, Beatriz González López-Valcárcel

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In one paragraph

Article in Human resources for health, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Guideline
  2. A System Dynamics Simulation Applied to Healthcare: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Long-Range Forecasting for Emergency Care Systems in a Highly Dynamic Setting: A Singapore Case Study.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Slack Is Needed to Solve the Shortage of Nurses.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Methods and Tools Used to Estimate the Shortages of Medical Staff in European Countries-Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Patricia BarberUniversity of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de G,C,, Canary Islands, Spain. pbarber@dmc.ulpgc.es.
Beatriz González López-Valcárcel

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSpain has gone from a surplus to a shortage of medical doctors in very few years. Medium and long-term planning for health professionals has become a high priority for health authorities.

methodsWe created a supply and demand/need simulation model for 43 medical specialties using system dynamics. The model includes demographic, education and labour market variables. Several scenarios were defined. Variables controllable by health planners can be set as parameters to simulate different scenarios. The model calculates the supply and the deficit or surplus. Experts set the ratio of specialists needed per 1000 inhabitants with a Delphi method.

resultsIn the scenario of the baseline model with moderate population growth, the deficit of medical specialists will grow from 2% at present (2800 specialists) to 14.3% in 2025 (almost 21 000). The specialties with the greatest medium-term shortages are Anesthesiology, Orthopedic and Traumatic Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Plastic Aesthetic and Reparatory Surgery, Family and Community Medicine, Pediatrics, Radiology, and Urology.

conclusionsThe model suggests the need to increase the number of students admitted to medical school. Training itineraries should be redesigned to facilitate mobility among specialties. In the meantime, the need to make more flexible the supply in the short term is being filled by the immigration of physicians from new members of the European Union and from Latin America.

Identifiers

PMID21034458
PMCPMC2987757

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.