Health workforce planning methods in rural and remote primary care: a scoping review

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Rural Health Workforce Planning
• Primary Care Delivery

Background:

• Rural and remote communities face significant health outcome disparities compared to urban areas, largely due to insufficient access to a skilled health workforce.
• Existing health workforce planning and forecasting methods are often not tailored to the unique needs of rural and remote primary care settings.
• This necessitates a focused analysis of methods specifically designed to address rural primary care workforce challenges and improve service accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review identifying and critically analyzing existing health workforce planning and forecasting methods for rural and remote primary care.
• To inform strategies for enhancing primary care service access in underserved rural and remote regions through improved workforce planning.
• To provide guidance for policymakers on selecting appropriate planning methods aligned with rural care models.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines.
• Searches conducted across major databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, CINAHL) for peer-reviewed English articles published between January 2005 and July 2025.
• Screening of 3938 records, assessment of 57 full-text studies, and inclusion of 26 articles in the final review.

Main Results:

• Twenty-six articles from 10 countries, predominantly Australia, were included.
• Diverse data sources were utilized, including administrative registries, census data, service utilization records, and qualitative inputs.
• Five key workforce planning approaches were identified: Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN), geospatial models, stock-flow models, skill-mix/competency-based planning, and synthetic estimation.

Conclusions:

• A significant gap exists in clear guidance for selecting planning methods appropriate for rural and remote models of care.
• The limited integration of workforce competency metrics alongside headcount planning hinders effective skill-based strategies.
• Developing integrated, longitudinal, competency-linked datasets is crucial for responsive rural primary care workforce planning and resource allocation.