Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Leave of Foreign-National Urologists Working at German Hospitals: Results of the Cross-Sectional EUTAKD Study

Kay-Patrick Braun; Mohammad Shaar; Antje Gumz; Atef Shaar; Birte Pantenburg; Sebastian Deutsch; Steffen Lebentrau; Matthias May

doi:10.1159/000518237

Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Leave of Foreign-National Urologists Working at German Hospitals: Results of the Cross-Sectional EUTAKD Study

Urol Int. 2022;106(12):1304-1312. doi: 10.1159/000518237. Epub 2021 Aug 24.

Authors

Kay-Patrick Braun¹, Mohammad Shaar², Antje Gumz^{3

4}, Atef Shaar⁵, Birte Pantenburg⁶, Sebastian Deutsch⁷, Steffen Lebentrau⁸, Matthias May²

Affiliations

¹ MVZ Dr. Braun GmbH, Cottbus, Germany.
² Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, Brothers of Mercy Hospital, Straubing, Germany.
³ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Psychology Berlin (PHB), Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁵ Department for Research and Development, College of Engineering, Paris, France.
⁶ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
⁷ Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁸ Department of Urology, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Ruppiner Kliniken, Neuruppin, Germany.

PMID: 34515248
DOI: 10.1159/000518237

Abstract

Background: Studies exist that identify factors associated with higher professional satisfaction among clinicians. However, there are no reliable findings for clinicians with a migration background as to whether there is a correlation between particular dimensions of professional satisfaction and the desire to leave their current specialty or country of employment. For the first time, these data were collected within a questionnaire-based study from urological clinicians with a migration background (UCMBs) working in Germany.

Material and methods: A SurveyMonkey® with 101 items relating to characterizing features of the study participants and questions about job satisfaction (n = 39) was opened for UCMBs between August and October 2020. The influence of different dimensions of job satisfaction on the desire to quit the urological specialty/leave Germany was analyzed (group A: neither want to leave urology nor Germany; group B: can at least imagine leaving the urological profession and/or Germany).

Results: Eighty-one UCMBs were distributed almost equally in groups A (50.6%) and B (49.4%). Occupational satisfaction was higher in several respects in group A. Three dimensions that differed significantly with regard to occupational satisfaction were used to create an aggregate score ranging from 3 to 15 points as follows: (1) relationship to superiors (p = 0.014), (2) career opportunities in the clinic (p < 0.001), and (3) opportunities for the further development of surgical skills (p = 0.006). For each point value of this aggregate score, the UCMB's desire to quit urology or leave Germany (or at least uncertainty about this question) decreased by a relative value of 34.6% (odds ratio: 0.654, 95% confidence interval: 0.496-0.861, p = 0.002).

Conclusions: Various dimensions of job satisfaction have been identified, the improvement of which could contribute to the long-term retention of UCMBs at German urological clinics.

Keywords: Desire for change of specialism; Emigration; Immigration; Physicians; Professional satisfaction; Urology.

MeSH terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Germany
Hospitals*
Humans