Academy of Public Health Services, 40472 Duesseldorf, Germany.
Department of International Health, Care and Public Health Research Institute-CAPHRI, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6211 Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 19;19(18):11838. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811838.
As in many European countries, the Public Health Service (PHS) in Germany has had considerable difficulties in attracting well-qualified personnel for decades. Despite ongoing political and societal debate, limited empirical research on possible causes and explanations is available. To identify areas of action, we explored reasons for the (lack of) interest in working in the PHS by conducting two cross-sectional surveys among 3019 medical students (MS), public health students, and students from other PHS-relevant fields (PH&ONM) in Germany right before (wave 1, 2019/2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (wave 2, 2021). While interest in working in the PHS among MS was low, it was considerably higher among PH&ONM. The prevalent underestimation of the importance of public health and low levels of knowledge about the PHS were identified as potential barriers. Although core activities of the PHS were often considered attractive, they were repeatedly not attributed to the PHS. A negative perception of the PHS (e.g., it being too bureaucratic) was prevalent among students with and without PHS interest, indicating that both a negative image and potentially structural deficits need to be overcome to increase attractiveness. Based on the findings, we propose approaches on how to sustainably attract and retain qualified personnel.
与许多欧洲国家一样，德国的公共卫生服务（PHS）数十年来一直难以吸引高素质的人员。尽管政治和社会上一直在进行辩论，但对于可能的原因和解释，可用的实证研究有限。为了确定行动领域，我们通过在德国对 3019 名医学生（MS）、公共卫生学生和其他与 PHS 相关领域的学生（PH&ONM）进行两次横断面调查，在 COVID-19 大流行之前（波 1，2019/2020 年）和期间（波 2，2021 年），探讨了对在 PHS 工作（缺乏）兴趣的原因。虽然医学生对在 PHS 工作的兴趣较低，但 PH&ONM 的兴趣却相当高。普遍存在对公共卫生重要性的低估以及对 PHS 的了解程度低，被认为是潜在的障碍。尽管 PHS 的核心活动通常被认为很有吸引力，但它们并未反复归因于 PHS。对 PHS 的负面看法（例如，过于官僚）在有和没有 PHS 兴趣的学生中普遍存在，这表明需要克服负面形象和潜在的结构性缺陷，以提高吸引力。基于这些发现，我们提出了如何可持续吸引和留住合格人员的方法。
