Abstract

Objective: To investigate the ways in which evidence-based workforce planning contributes to improved operational efficiency and patient care delivery in academic healthcare settings, including medical and dental education.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2024 to June 2024 in five academic medical and dental institutions. A total of 160 clinical faculty, residents and final year students responded through structured interviews and surveys. The study analyzed institutional practices with regard to distribution of workload, faculty to student ratios and the role of clinical care in integration of teaching responsibilities. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s correlation were used to determine the association between workforce strategies and outcomes in patient care and clinical education.
Results: The institutions, which make use of real-time workload monitoring (82%), competency-based role assignments (76%), and data-informed clinical scheduling (68%), had greater faculty satisfaction and more consistent student learning experiences. Many respondents (74%) noted improved quality of patient care when optimal staffing was combined with structured clinical supervision. Main barriers were resistance to workflow changes in 53%, inconsistent data use in 48% and professors development constraints in 41%.
Conclusion: Medical and dental education is associated with evidence-based workforce strategies that optimize clinical training experience, patient care, and institutional efficiency. Among the academic leaders and policymakers, faculty growth aligned with role specificity and evidence-based planning holds the key to the development of a sustainable high-performance educational system.

Key words: Workforce optimization, medical education, dental education, evidence-based staffing, clinical training, patient care efficiency.