Analysis on ophthalmic human resource allocation and service delivery at county level in Mainland China in 2014

Objective To master the status of ophthalmic human resource allocation and service delivery at county level in Mainland China, and to provide the basis for strengthening the construction of grassroots ophthalmic personnel team and formulating feasible medium and long-term eye health plans. Methods All the medical institutions that provided ophthalmic service at county level or above were investigated by online reporting. This study only included medical institutions at county level. Descriptive statistics were used. Results Three thousand three hundred and fifty-nine medical institutions were included, of which 1 463 hospitals had independent departments of ophthalmology (43.55%). Each medical institution has 3.93 ophthalmologists, 4.59 ophthalmic nurses, 0.30 full-time optometrist and 0.21 full-time optician. Ophthalmologists are mainly undergraduate, and the ratio of senior, intermediate and junior titles is 1.0∶1.7∶1.9. The ophthalmic nurses are mainly graduated from junior colleges or secondary schools, and the ratio of senior, intermediate and junior titles is 1.0∶7.3∶22.3. There were statistically differences in the distribution of job titles of ophthalmologists (χ2=106.21, P<0.01) and nurses (χ2=128.54, P<0.01) in the eastern, central and western regions. Of each ophthalmologist, the annual number of outpatient, outpatient surgery, inpatient and inpatient operation was 2 377.62, 109.79, 124.03, and 85.97 respectively. Four thousand one hundred and sixty ophthalmologists were able to carry out cataract surgeries independently, accounting for 31.50% of all ophthalmologists. The quantity for annual per capita cataract operation among ophthalmologists who can perform cataract surgery independently was 181.81 per capita. The average beds rate of utilization was 68.91%, and that was less than 60% in 52.99% of medical institutions. Conclusions Compared with 1998, ophthalmic health personnel at county level in Mainland China has expanded rapidly. But cataract ability of ophthalmologists and the number of cataract surgeries still need to be improved. The structure of ophthalmic nursing staff is irrational. The full-time optometrists and opticians are extremely scarce. It is necessary to cultivate high-quality ophthalmic health personnel and improve beds rate of utilization at county level. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2018, 54:929-934) Key words: Hospitals, county; Staff development; Ophthalmologists; Ophthalmic assistants; Nursing Staff