Abstracts by keywords: physician shortage
One of the main reasons why many doctors turn away from medical care in Germany is proven to be poor working conditions with an unsatisfactory work-life balance, systematically excessive workloads and long and inflexible working hours (Via medici 2006). On the one hand, these result from the shortage per se (unfilled positions lead to overloading of compensating positions) but on the other hand, they can also be seen as a lasting consequence of the 80s and 90s. During that time of the “doctor glut”, a high workload for doctors was accepted because the job offer was very limited and the demand for jobs was high. Related violations of labor law or the Working Hours Act were and are often not reported or punished today (dpa 2017; Via medici 2014; Peters 2013). However, the high workload is not only caused by medical activities per se, but also increasingly by the increasing bureaucratization of the profession. In a doctor's survey from 2010, more than 50 % of the doctors surveyed said that they use more than a quarter of their daily planned working time for administrative activities (IQME 2011). Since there were sufficient financial and human resources available during the “doctor glut,” in the past only limited emphasis was placed on efficiency or optimizing structures and processes. While the structural and process deficits partially remained, personnel and economic resources continuously decreased, so that this constellation can be viewed as the cause of the current workload. However, this also means that there is still immense potential for increasing efficiency in these structures and processes. There are wards and hospitals in which activities that can be delegated to non-medical staff, such as taking blood samples or organizing documents, continue to be carried out by medical staff.