Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, P,O,B, 1111 Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Dec 18;13:524. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-524.
Globalization has facilitated the employability of doctors almost anywhere in the world. In recent years, the migration of doctors seems to have increased. However, we lack studies on doctors' migration from developed countries. Because the economic recession experienced by many countries might have affected the migration of doctors, research on this topic is important for the retention of doctors. Iceland was hit hard by the economic recession in 2008. Therefore, we want to explore how many specialist doctors in Iceland have considered migrating and whether economic factors at work and in private life, such as extensive cost-containment initiatives at work and worries about personal finances, are related to doctors' migration considerations.
In 2010, all doctors in Iceland registered with the Icelandic Medical Association were sent an electronic cross-sectional survey by email. The 467 specialists who participated in this study represent 55% of all specialist doctors working in Iceland. Information on doctors' contemplation of migration was available from responses to the question: "Have you considered moving and working abroad?" The predictor variables in our logistic regression model are perceived cost-containment initiatives at work, stress related to personal finances, experience of working abroad during vacations, job dissatisfaction, job position, age, and gender.
Sixty-three per cent of Iceland's specialist doctors had considered relocation abroad, 4% were moving in the next year or two, and 33% had not considered relocating. Logistic regression analysis shows that, controlling for age, gender, job position, job satisfaction, and experience of working abroad during vacations, doctors' migration considerations were significantly affected by their experiences of cost-containment initiatives at work (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, p < 0.01) and being stressed about personal finances (OR = 1.6, p < 0.001). Age, job satisfaction, and working abroad during vacations also had an effect, whereas job position did not.
Economic factors affect whether specialist doctors in Iceland consider migration. More studies on the effect of economic recession on migration by doctors are needed.
全球化使医生在世界任何地方都能找到工作。近年来，医生的流动似乎有所增加。然而，我们缺乏对发达国家医生移民的研究。由于许多国家经历了经济衰退，这可能影响了医生的迁移，因此，研究这一主题对于医生的留用很重要。冰岛在 2008 年受到了经济衰退的严重打击。因此，我们想探讨有多少冰岛的专科医生考虑过移民，以及工作和私人生活中的经济因素，如工作中广泛的成本控制措施和对个人财务的担忧，是否与医生的移民考虑有关。
2010 年，冰岛医学协会的所有注册医生都收到了一封电子邮件的横断面调查。参与这项研究的 467 名专科医生代表了在冰岛工作的所有专科医生的 55%。医生移民考虑因素的信息来自对以下问题的回答：“你是否考虑过移居国外工作？”我们的逻辑回归模型中的预测变量是感知工作中的成本控制措施、与个人财务相关的压力、休假期间在国外工作的经验、工作不满、工作职位、年龄和性别。
63%的冰岛专科医生曾考虑过在国外重新安置，4%的人计划在未来一两年内搬迁，33%的人没有考虑过搬迁。逻辑回归分析显示，在控制年龄、性别、工作职位、工作满意度和休假期间在国外工作的经验后，医生的移民考虑因素受到他们在工作中实施成本控制措施的经历（比值比（OR）=2.0，p<0.01）和对个人财务的压力（OR=1.6，p<0.001）显著影响。年龄、工作满意度和休假期间在国外工作也有影响，而工作职位则没有。
经济因素影响冰岛专科医生是否考虑移民。需要更多关于经济衰退对医生移民影响的研究。
