Relevance. The healthcare system is facing chronic problems of optimal availability of medical personnel. The personnel issue in any branch of the economy is intensified under the influence of various changes in the country: demographic, economic, epidemiological and others. The 2006 World Health Report, Working Together for Health: An Overview, asks: "Is there a tool or technical framework that will help Governments and national health planners develop and systematically implement a comprehensive strategy». Determining the need for employees is considered as an important component of planning necessary for the development of measures for strategic planning of training and retraining of personnel focused on demand in the provision of medical services. Purpose of the work. To analyze the experience, including international, of the application of methods for determining the need for medical personnel. Materials and methods. The analysis of the literature on databases is carried out: PubMed.gov, MedLine.ru, Elibrary.ru. The sources of literature for the last 15 years were considered. Results and discussions. The analysis of domestic and foreign literature testifies to the current relevance of the issues of staffing of medical workers and the need to develop (refine) methods for calculating the need for medical personnel, taking into account the modern development of healthcare. A variety of approaches to the methods of planning medical personnel in modern conditions, including international experience, has been revealed. Conclusions. When determining the need for medical personnel, various methods and approaches are used, there is no generally accepted and unified methodology that would be actively used in modern conditions.