BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
University Research Co., LLC, Yangon, Myanmar.
PLoS One. 2019 Jan 11;14(1):e0210820. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210820. eCollection 2019.
Bangladesh is currently faced with an emerging scenario of increased number of female physicians in the health workforce which has health system implications. For a health system to attract and retain female physicians, information is needed regarding their motivation to choose medical profession, real-life challenges encountered in home and workplaces, propensity to choose a few particular specialties, and factors leading to drop-out from the system. This exploratory mixed-methods study attempted to fill-in this knowledge gap and help the policy makers in designing a gender-sensitive health system.
Three-hundred and fifteen final year female medical students from four purposively selected medical colleges of Dhaka city (two each from public and private colleges) were included in a quantitative survey using self-administered questionnaire. Besides, 31 in-depth interviews with female students, their parents, and in-service trainee physicians, and two focus group discussions with female students were conducted. Gender disaggregated data of physicians and admitted students were also collected. Data were analysed using Stata version 13 and thematic analysis method, as appropriate.
During 2006-2015, the female physicians outnumbered their male peers (52% vs. 48%), which is also supported by student admission data during 2011-2016 from the sampled medical colleges, (67% in private compared to 52% in public). Majority of the female medical graduates specialized in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (96%). Social status (66%), respect for medical profession (91%), image of a 'noble profession' (91%), and prospects of helping common people (94%) were common motivating factors for them. Gender disparity in work, career and work environment especially in rural areas, and problems of work-home balance, were a few of the challenges mentioned which forced some of them to drop-out. Also, this scenario conditioned them to crowd into a few selected specialties, thereby constraining health system from delivering needed services.
Increasing number of female physicians in health workforce, outnumbering their male peers, is a fact of life for health system of Bangladesh. It's high time that policy makers pay attention to this and take appropriate remedial measures so that women can pursue their career in an enabling environment and serve the needs and priorities of the health system.
孟加拉国目前面临着医疗劳动力中女性医生人数增加的新兴情况，这对医疗体系产生了影响。为了使医疗体系能够吸引和留住女性医生，需要了解她们选择医学职业的动机、在家庭和工作场所中遇到的实际挑战、选择特定专业的倾向，以及导致她们退出医疗体系的因素。这项探索性混合方法研究试图填补这一知识空白，并帮助决策者设计一个对性别敏感的医疗体系。
从达卡市的四所医学院（两所公立和两所私立）中选取了 315 名即将毕业的女医学生，使用自我管理问卷进行了定量调查。此外，还对 31 名女学生、她们的父母和在职培训医生进行了 31 次深入访谈，并与女学生进行了两次焦点小组讨论。还收集了按性别分类的医生和入学学生的数据。使用 Stata 版本 13 和适当的主题分析方法进行数据分析。
在 2006-2015 年期间，女性医生的数量超过了男性医生（52%比 48%），这也得到了抽样医学院 2011-2016 年入学学生数据的支持（私立医院为 67%，公立医院为 52%）。大多数女医学毕业生都专门从事妇产科（96%）。社会地位（66%）、对医学职业的尊重（91%）、高尚职业的形象（91%）和帮助普通人的前景（94%）是她们共同的激励因素。工作、职业和工作环境中的性别差异，特别是在农村地区，以及工作与家庭平衡的问题，是她们提到的一些迫使一些人退出的挑战。此外，这种情况使她们倾向于选择少数几个选定的专业，从而限制了医疗体系提供所需服务的能力。
在医疗劳动力中，女性医生的数量超过了男性医生，这是孟加拉国医疗体系的一个现实情况。政策制定者现在应该关注这一问题，并采取适当的补救措施，以便女性能够在一个有利的环境中追求自己的职业，并为医疗体系的需求和优先事项服务。
