34 percent of doctors are dissatisfied

Survey among medical professionals: 34 percent of doctors are dissatisfied with their own professional situation

16/02/2011

More than a third (34 percent) of GPs and specialists are dissatisfied with their own professional situation. Independent medical practitioners are even more dissatisfied. Forty-four percent of GPs stated that they were not satisfied with their current situation. The most common reason given was the bureaucratic administrative burden. The representative survey was carried out on behalf of Commerzbank by the research and opinion institute TNS-Infratest among German physicians.

Doctors almost half dissatisfied
In general, most people in Germany assume that physicians have high job satisfaction. The profession is socially highly recognized and its earnings are mostly in the upper range. But many doctors are quite dissatisfied with their own situation. Particularly established physicians complain of the ever-increasing bureaucracy in the billing system. A total of 34 percent of respondents stated that they were not satisfied. The dissatisfaction with medical practitioners was a whopping 44 percent. Particularly burdensome is the bureaucratic effort, which must be operated daily. 54 percent of GPs see bureaucracy as the main reason for their dissatisfaction. Salaried physicians in clinics with a share of 64 percent stated that the high workload in particular mainly restricts their satisfaction.

26 percent of respondents want to change their job later this year. The founding of an own practice stood with 37 per cent in first place. Thirty-five percent of GPs said they were considering a new group practice. 32 percent think about moving abroad and only five percent of the doctors could imagine working in rural areas as well. From the latter point, there is now a veritable lack of physicians in the countryside.

Doctors' Association calls for reducing bureaucracy and higher compensation
The Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV) sees itself confirmed in the survey results. Previous surveys would have come to a similar conclusion. As said the Federal Chairman of the Medical Association, Dr. med. Carl-Heinz Müller: „This coincides with the results of a nationwide survey of medical students that the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV) and the University of Trier carried out last summer.“ Both surveys show that something has to be done about the lack of medical literacy in rural areas. The KBV renewed the demand to reduce bureaucracy, to free physicians from regressive risks and to grant doctors in rural areas a higher remuneration. In addition, the infrastructure in rural areas should be further expanded so that doctors and family members have more incentives to move to the countryside. Otherwise, one knows the country doctor soon only from the television, warned Müller.

Health insurance companies rather see an oversupply
The health insurance companies, however, see no shortage of doctors but rather an oversupply. The problem is not a shortage of medical professionals, but an unequal distribution. While there is a very high density of doctors in the cities, there is a veritable shortage of doctors in some rural areas. The AOK national chairman Herbert Reichelt recently demanded a legally prescribed minimization of practice permits in the cities. This is to encourage physicians to settle in rural areas as well. (Sb)

Also read:
AOK boss: problem with medical oversupply
FDP demands self-payment in case of lack of doctors
Doctors are in favor of reimbursement

Picture: Rike