Emergency physician personnel crisis: a survey on attitudes of new generations in Slovenia

BACKGROUND

Emergency departments globally are overburdened, and emergency medicine residency is losing popularity among students and physicians. This raises concerns about the collapse of a life-saving system. Our goal was to identify the key workforce reasoning and question medical staff employment behavior.

METHODS

This was a prospective cross-sectional study. In December 2022, medical students and pre-residency doctors in Slovenia were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire. The data were analyzed using T-test, chi-square test, Mann‒Whitney-Wilcoxon tests, and principal component analysis. Open-ended questions were hand-categorized.

RESULTS

There were 686 participatns who clicked on the first page and 436 of those finished the survey. 4% of participants gave a clear positive response, while 11% responded positively regarding their decision to pursue emergency medicine residency. The popularity of emergency medicine decreases significantly among recent medical school graduates upon their initial employment. People who choose emergency medicine are less concerned about its complexity and pressure compared to others. Most respondents preferred 12-hour shift lengths. The preferred base salary range for residents was I$ 3623-4529, and for specialists, it was I$ 5435-6341. The sample's primary personal priorities are achieving a satisfactory work-life balance, earning respect from colleagues, and engaging in academic activities. Factors that attract individuals to choose emergency medicine include high hourly wages, establishment of standards and norms, and reduced working hours.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that enhancing compensation, establishing achievable standards and norms, facilitating a beneficial work-life equilibrium, providing assistance with initial property acquisition, stimulating participation in deficit residency programs, fostering collegiality among peers, restricting the duration of shifts, and enabling pension accrual may be imperative in attracting more individuals to pursue emergency medicine residency.