TY - JOUR
T1 - How to Increase the Attractiveness of the Public Health Service in Germany as a Prospective Employer?
T2 - Part II of the OeGD-Studisurvey
AU - Arnold, Laura
AU - Kellermann, Lisa
AU - Fischer, Florian
AU - Hommes, Franziska
AU - Jung, Laura
AU - Mohsenpour, Amir
AU - Stratil, Jan M
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all survey participants for their time and engagement. The research project was conducted by the German Network of Young Professionals in Public Health (NOEG), supported by the Academy of Public Health Services (AOEGW), the Federal Association for Physicians in the Public Health Service (BVOEGD), and the German Medical Students’ Association (bvmd). We would like to thank all supporters, in particular Muriel Bernhard, Özden Dogan, Simon Drees, Constanze Pscheidt, Jürgen Rissland, Kerstin Sell, Dagmar Starke, and Ute Teichert for their feedback regarding the first draft of the survey instrument. We are grateful to Dagmar Starke and Shkurta Rashica for their support in the selection of suitable study programs. Moreover, we would like to thank the BVOEGD, the bvmd and the IMPP for facilitating the poll in their professional networks. We are also thankful to the student assistants Ferdinand Beleites and Meret Reuter for contributing to the quality control of the qualitative codings. Many thanks also to Sophie Gepp for her time and constructive feedback of earlier versions of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/9/17
Y1 - 2022/9/17
N2 - The Public Health Service (PHS) in Germany has had difficulties in recruiting enough qualified staff for years, but there is limited research on what factors drive decisions to (not) join the PHS workforce. We explored reasons for this perceived (lack of) attractiveness. We conducted two cross-sectional surveys among medical students (MS), public health students and students from other PHS-relevant fields (PH&ONM) in Germany before (2019/2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). Both waves surveyed self-reported reasons for why students did (not) consider working in the PHS as attractive and how this could be improved, using open-question items. Qualitative and quantitative content analyses were conducted according to Mayring. In total, 948 MS and 445 PH&ONM provided valid written responses. Reasons for considering the PHS as attractive were, among others, the perception of a good work-life balance, high impact, population health focus, and generally interesting occupations. Suggestions to increase attractiveness included reducing bureaucracy, modernization/digitalization, and more acknowledgement of non-medical professionals. Among MS, reasons against were too little clinical/patient-related activities, low salary, and occupations regarded as boring. Our findings indicate areas for improvement for image, working conditions in, and institutional structures of the PHS in Germany to increase its attractiveness as an employer among young professionals.
AB - The Public Health Service (PHS) in Germany has had difficulties in recruiting enough qualified staff for years, but there is limited research on what factors drive decisions to (not) join the PHS workforce. We explored reasons for this perceived (lack of) attractiveness. We conducted two cross-sectional surveys among medical students (MS), public health students and students from other PHS-relevant fields (PH&ONM) in Germany before (2019/2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). Both waves surveyed self-reported reasons for why students did (not) consider working in the PHS as attractive and how this could be improved, using open-question items. Qualitative and quantitative content analyses were conducted according to Mayring. In total, 948 MS and 445 PH&ONM provided valid written responses. Reasons for considering the PHS as attractive were, among others, the perception of a good work-life balance, high impact, population health focus, and generally interesting occupations. Suggestions to increase attractiveness included reducing bureaucracy, modernization/digitalization, and more acknowledgement of non-medical professionals. Among MS, reasons against were too little clinical/patient-related activities, low salary, and occupations regarded as boring. Our findings indicate areas for improvement for image, working conditions in, and institutional structures of the PHS in Germany to increase its attractiveness as an employer among young professionals.
KW - COVID-19/epidemiology
KW - Cross-Sectional Studies
KW - Germany
KW - Health Services
KW - Humans
KW - Pandemics
KW - Prospective Studies
KW - Surveys and Questionnaires
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph191811733
DO - 10.3390/ijerph191811733
M3 - Article
C2 - 36142004
SN - 1660-4601
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 18
M1 - 11733
ER -