Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study
IntroductionIt is well known that Germany's ambulance service (AS) suffers from a shortage of qualified personnel, which may increase in the following years. For this reason, this study aimed to determine the percentage of AS staff considering leaving their profession and to analyse the possibl...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Health Services |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2025.1548525/full |
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| author | Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Michael Stanley Michael Stanley Luis Möckel |
| author_facet | Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Michael Stanley Michael Stanley Luis Möckel |
| author_sort | Thomas Hofmann |
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| description | IntroductionIt is well known that Germany's ambulance service (AS) suffers from a shortage of qualified personnel, which may increase in the following years. For this reason, this study aimed to determine the percentage of AS staff considering leaving their profession and to analyse the possible causes.MethodsA self-developed questionnaire and the Employee Experience Questionnaire (EXQ) were used for this cross-sectional study.ResultsA total of 814 AS staff with a mean age of 35.71 [standard deviation (SD) 9.78] years were included in this study. Immediately leaving the AS was the intention of 17.27% of participants, with 2.86% having already resigned, 14.29% taking actions such as applying for a job, and another 14.04% specifically planning to leave the AS in the foreseeable future. Those who plan to leave the AS immediately [3.82 (SD 0.79)] showed significantly lower EXQ scores than the group who plan to stay in the EMS until retirement [4.92 (SD 0.87); pTukey ≤0.001]. At the same time, it is noticeable that EMS staff often suffer from unfavourable working conditions, such as not being granted breaks, work-related calls during free time, and over time, and significant correlations with the planned length of stay in the paramedic service and exit thoughts were identified here.ConclusionUnfavourable working conditions further aggravate the already existing shortage of qualified personnel in the ambulance service, so measures by various decision-makers are imperative. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-29194e70c39b48a6b3eace8cd8ad3d89 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2813-0146 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Health Services |
| spelling | doaj-art-29194e70c39b48a6b3eace8cd8ad3d892025-01-31T06:39:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Health Services2813-01462025-01-01510.3389/frhs.2025.15485251548525Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional studyThomas Hofmann0Thomas Hofmann1Thomas Hofmann2Michael Stanley3Michael Stanley4Luis Möckel5Department of Health and Social Sciences, HSD Hochschule Döpfer GmbH, University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam, GermanyGerman Society of Paramedic Sciences (DGRe), Aachen, GermanyFaculty of Health, University Witten/Herdecke, Witten, GermanyGerman Society of Paramedic Sciences (DGRe), Aachen, GermanyOffshore Rescue, Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e. V., Berne, GermanyGerman Society of Paramedic Sciences (DGRe), Aachen, GermanyIntroductionIt is well known that Germany's ambulance service (AS) suffers from a shortage of qualified personnel, which may increase in the following years. For this reason, this study aimed to determine the percentage of AS staff considering leaving their profession and to analyse the possible causes.MethodsA self-developed questionnaire and the Employee Experience Questionnaire (EXQ) were used for this cross-sectional study.ResultsA total of 814 AS staff with a mean age of 35.71 [standard deviation (SD) 9.78] years were included in this study. Immediately leaving the AS was the intention of 17.27% of participants, with 2.86% having already resigned, 14.29% taking actions such as applying for a job, and another 14.04% specifically planning to leave the AS in the foreseeable future. Those who plan to leave the AS immediately [3.82 (SD 0.79)] showed significantly lower EXQ scores than the group who plan to stay in the EMS until retirement [4.92 (SD 0.87); pTukey ≤0.001]. At the same time, it is noticeable that EMS staff often suffer from unfavourable working conditions, such as not being granted breaks, work-related calls during free time, and over time, and significant correlations with the planned length of stay in the paramedic service and exit thoughts were identified here.ConclusionUnfavourable working conditions further aggravate the already existing shortage of qualified personnel in the ambulance service, so measures by various decision-makers are imperative.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2025.1548525/fullparamedicworking conditionsjob satisfactioncommitmentintention to leaveretention |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Thomas Hofmann Michael Stanley Michael Stanley Luis Möckel Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study Frontiers in Health Services paramedic working conditions job satisfaction commitment intention to leave retention |
| title | Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Influence of working conditions on German paramedics' intention to leave the profession: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | influence of working conditions on german paramedics intention to leave the profession a cross sectional study |
| topic | paramedic working conditions job satisfaction commitment intention to leave retention |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2025.1548525/full |
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