Factors impacting health personnel migration in Slovakia: role of remuneration

Abstract

Migration is influenced by many macro (environmental, social, economic, political) and micro (personal characteristics) factors that lead to cross-border movements. Currently, we consider the topic of personnel management in hospitals in Slovakia to be extremely crucial, as it is related to the announced reform efforts that may affect the emigration sentiment of health care workers. The main goal of the paper is to compare the attitudes of doctors and nurses on remuneration before and after the Covid -19 pandemic outbreak in Slovak hospitals and to identify emigration sentiments. As principal methods the base index, chain index and rate of increment have been used to calculate the wages. Next, we used basic statistical methods (sum - "n", proportion - "%") in the study. Student's t - test was also used in the study. Work remuneration was one of the worst rated conditions. The results of the analyses have shown that work remuneration got worse from the point of view of medical staff - the difference before and during the pandemic was 0.2. The pay-for-work scores showed higher average score within the health personnel group with less than 5 years of experience. A Student's t-test was conducted and has confirmed a statistically significant difference in the assessment of conditions as reasons for going abroad. The outflow of healthcare professionals from Slovakia is due to more favorable working conditions and organization of work in other countries.