Study title

Access to Treatment and Waiting Times in Primary Oral Health Care: Managers 2021

Dataset ID Number

FSD4003

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD4003
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd4003

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Söderlund, Riitta (University of Turku)

Abstract

The data is part of a set of surveys aimed at determining waiting times for access to public primary oral health care. The surveys were collected from citizens, dental nurses, and oral health care managers. This material deals with the survey of oral health care managers, which aims to explore perceptions of the need for and use of waiting time information.

First, respondents were presented with statements about the information service maintained by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the information on waiting times for dental care published there. They were asked, for example, whether they had used the information service, how they felt about it, and whether it enabled them to compare waiting time data. Next, they were asked whether the waiting time information had been useful in managing their own unit, in self-monitoring, and in comparing their unit with others. In addition, it was investigated whether the information had influenced the assessment of the unit's recording practices for assessing the need for treatment and whether the waiting time information was accurate for their own unit.

After this, questions were asked about the patient information system. Among other things, respondents were asked whether they considered the patient information system useful in assessing the need for treatment and whether training, instructions, and user support for the system had been increased. In addition, questions were asked about the use of waiting time information to speed up access to care and whether the presentation of waiting time information should be diversified. Finally, respondents were asked to assess whether they believed that customers were aware that waiting time information was published on the internet and how many considered the publication of this information to be useful.

Background information include age, gender, degree, length of time in management positions, and the population base of the health center managed.

Keywords

dental care; dental health; dentists; health services; information services; medical centres; oral health; patients; teeth

Topic Classification

• Medical and health sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Health care services and policies (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Söderlund, Riitta (University of Turku)

Time Period Covered

2021

Collection Dates

2021-05-02 – 2021-06-02

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Managers responsible for oral health care at Finnish health centers

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

The survey announcement and link were sent to the designated contact person at each public primary healthcare unit that had granted a research permit. The contact person was responsible for distributing the announcement and link to the survey target group within their unit.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD4001 Access to Treatment and Waiting Times in Primary Oral Health Care: South-Western Finns 2021

FSD4002 Access to Treatment and Waiting Times in Primary Oral Health Care: Dental Nurses 2021

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Söderlund, Riitta (University of Turku): Access to Treatment and Waiting Times in Primary Oral Health Care: Managers 2021 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2025-10-02). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd4003; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD4003

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Söderlund, Riitta (2024). Digital national waiting time information system - View of Finnish public oral healthcare managers. Health Policy and Technology, 13(4): Article 100900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2024.100900

Söderlund, Riitta (2023). Signalling waiting times to citizens on public oral healthcare providers' websites. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, 81(7): 517-527. https://doi.org/10.1080/00016357.2023.2204934

Söderlund, Riitta (2025). Actionability of public waiting time reporting - exploratory research in Finland's public primary oral healthcare. Turun yliopisto, väitöskirja. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-02-0243-9