Methods: In this study, work force (manpower) particular to thoracic surgery was calculated by using data including number of beds, hospitalization rate, bed occupancy rate, and mean duration of hospitalization in our country, as well as Turkish Statistical Institute, European Union and United States of America data compared to targets, disease burden, population, and countries with high human development index. Also, workload was calculated with projection method. With this projection, workload components and European standards were compared and coefficients were determined.

Results: According to calculations over thoracic surgery department number of beds (n=1052), hospitalization rate (5%), bed occupancy rate (80%), and mean hospitalization duration (7 days and less), the number of required thoracic surgical specialists in our country was 344. Since, according to Turkey Burden of Disease Study (2004), thoracic surgery specific disease burden was 0.68% of total disease burden, 0.68% of total specialized physicians should be thoracic surgeons, and this rate equals to the number of 475. In Turkey, since one thoracic surgeon corresponded to 185,000 people in 2007, according to 2013 population, number of thoracic surgeons should have been 412. Numbers of required thoracic surgeons according to European Union and United States of America data were 421 and 196, respectively. According to workload analysis performed by projection, 89% of current thoracic surgeons, in other words, 482 are sufficient.

Conclusion: According to the results of our study, number of thoracic surgical specialists in Turkey is very high. If rising number of thoracic surgeons is not prevented over the years, it may be inevitable for some thoracic surgeons to be engaged in other jobs in near future.