[Influencing the Attractiveness of the Medical Profession through Family-Friendly Structures]
Nora Heinemann 11 Bundesvertretung der Medizinstudierenden in Deutschland e.V. (bvmd), Bonn, Germany
Abstract
If the medical profession is to remain attractive to the next generation, more focus must be put on family and career. More family-friendly structures are needed.
Family changes everything
When a young person decides to start a family, everything changes. A family takes time, energy and love. Things that are not in limitless supply in a demanding job with long working hours.
Employers must address changes
Being family-friendly means working hours which are compatible with family life. For childcare provision to be near to the workplace and flexible. Career and children should not be mutually exclusive.
Family is moving into the focus
The young physician of today is a woman, with 70% of all medical students female. And along with the flood of female graduates, a generation of men is heading for the hospitals who are not prepared to give up on family. They are not willing to be forced to make a choice between job and family. The shortage of doctors in Germany can only be countered by offering attractive working conditions. A debate on “family-friendliness” is long overdue.
Competing interests
The author declares that she has no competing interests.
