Planning for Canada's health workforce; past, present and present

In a service enterprise, the front line is the product. Health human resources issues, however, continue to be treated as simple input problems. More data, in and of itself, will not solve health human resources planning challenges. The definition of how many and what types of healthcare providers are needed first requires a model of delivery of professional services built around professional healthcare workers. If we do not get this right, soon the shortage of healthcare workers will get even worse as young people choose careers in fields other than health services.