Physician Workforce in Lithuania: Changes during Thirty Years of Independence

Abstract

Healthcare human resource planning is one of the biggest challenges facing the healthcare systems in many countries. Inadequate decisions in human resource planning can lead to an insufficient number of healthcare professionals then healthcare inequalities. One of the components of resource planning in the healthcare system is long-term data monitoring and the identification of potential trends. Since 1990, the number of physicians in Lithuania has decreased by 15.3% (−2266), but the decrease in the population has led to a 13.61% increase in the number of physicians per 10,000 inhabitants (5.32). During the analyzed period, the largest decrease in the number of physicians workforce by specialty was the number of medical physicians (−73.08%), epidemiology and hygiene (−69.30%), children’s diseases (−49.08%), the most increased number was of family/general practitioners (GPs), geneticists, physical medicine, and rehabilitation specialists. Since 1992, the number of visits to physicians in Lithuania, which has been decreasing for a long time, began increasing, and in 2022 (9.3 visits) it has almost reached the number of visits (9.5) per capita as in 1991. The aim of this research was to collect long-term data from various databases, summarize them, and identify possible trends and the reasons for data changes. The study analyzed data from the Lithuanian healthcare system from the Declaration of Independence of Lithuania to the last 30 years. The data includes or affects the indicators of the healthcare system, changes in population and doctors, the number of visits to doctors, the number of medical students and residents, and data determining inequalities in the healthcare system. Long-term data analysis is useful for developing a model of healthcare human resource planning and for planning healthcare resources.