Computerized placement in dentistry: the Minnesota experience.

In response to identified manpower information and service requirements, the Minnesota Dental Association, the board of dentistry, and the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry established the Dental Information Service Center in 1972. One major effort of the center was to develop a computerized placement service for dentistry in the state. This service was recently subjected to a user evaluation. Of 1,030 delivered questionnaires, 431 were returned in response to a single mailing. The respondents included 216 employers and 215 employees, including dentists seeking positions. Dental employers generally found the system to be their most successful strategy in the search for employees; from the perspective of employees, other sources such as personal contact competed with the computerized system as the most successful source of information. Evidence from this evaluation indicates that the computerized placement experience in Minnesota has been quite positive. Dentists have relied on the service somewhat more heavily than other dental occupational groups, possibly because alternate sources of information traditionally have not served the health professions. Overall satisfaction ran quite high, and an overwhelming majority of the respondents thought that the service should be continued and expanded to either a regional or a national level.