The «Zemsky Doctor» program implemented over the last ten years plays a key role in solving personnel issues in the remote northern territories of Russia, but it is necessary to summarize the interim results and assess the prospects for further development.
OBJECTIVE
To present a sociodemographic portrait of the «Zemsky Doctor» program’s participants in the northern territories, assess the motivation, satisfaction level and factors that influence the desire to continue participation in the program.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A sociological research by questionnaire method of 385 doctors who took part in the «Zemsky Doctor» program in 2019—2021 in state medical organizations in the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk Region and Komi Republic was conducted. The questionnaire was designed considering the recommendations of the EUROHIS project. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the factors that influence the willingness to continue participation in the program.
RESULTS
The majority were women (71.5%), young professionals under 30 years (49.7%), and those who were married (63.8%) and had children (67.3%) of the 385 surveyed participants. The main reasons for participation were cash payments (49.1%), availability of work experience (18.9%) and family circumstances (14.2%). Effectiveness of the «Zemsky doctor» program is confirmed by the fact that 53.3% of respondents are ready to continue working in the medical organization in which they worked after the end of the program. The participants’ young age, dissatisfaction with the living and social conditions, low assessment of their own health, limited professional development opportunities have been distinguished among the reasons for doubt and/or unwillingness for further participation in the program, which were expressed by 46.7% of participants. The unwillingness to continue participation in the program increased by 24.5 times in case of the terms and conditions of employment non-compliance by employer.
CONCLUSION
The results emphasize the importance of employers’ monitoring of compliance with the terms of contract, support of the professional development of doctors participating in the program and improvement of social and living conditions for enhancement of satisfaction and willingness to continue participating in the «Zemsky Doctor» program. The integration of the program with local initiatives and monitoring strengthening of the personnel policies implementation for sustainable medical support of the northern territories is recommended.