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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:90690 |
| Date | 28 March 2024 |
| Creators | Arnold, Laura, Kellermann, Lisa, Fischer, Florian, Gepp, Sophie, Hommes, Franziska, Jung, Laura, Mohsenpour, Amir, Starke, Dagmar, Stratil, Jan M. |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 11838 |
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