TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schmitz-Rixen, Thomas
A1  - Grundmann, Reinhart T.
T1  - Surgical leadership within rapidly changing working conditions in Germany
T2  - Innovative surgical sciences
N2  - Introduction: An overview of the requirements for the head of a surgical department in Germany should be given.
Materials and methods: A retrospective literature research on surgical professional policy publications of the last 10 years in Germany was conducted.
Results: Surveys show that commercial influences on medical decisions in German hospitals have today become an everyday, predominantly negative, actuality. Nevertheless, in one survey, 82.9% of surgical chief physicians reported being very satisfied with their profession, compared with 61.5% of senior physicians and only 43.4% of hospital specialists. Here, the chief physician is challenged. Only 70% of those surveyed stated that they could rely on their direct superiors when difficulties arose at work, and only 34.1% regarded feedback on the quality of their work as sufficient. The high distress rate in surgery (58.2% for all respondents) has led to a lack in desirability and is reflected in a shortage of qualified applicants for resident positions. In various position papers, surgical residents (only 35% describe their working conditions as good) demand improved working conditions. Chief physicians are being asked to facilitate a suitable work-life balance with regular working hours and a corporate culture with participative management and collegial cooperation. Appreciation of employee performance must also be expressed. An essential factor contributing to dissatisfaction is that residents fill a large part of their daily working hours with non-physician tasks. In surveys, 70% of respondents stated that they spend up to ≥3 h a day on documentation and secretarial work.
Discussion: The chief physician is expected to relieve his medical staff by employing non-physician assistants to take care of non-physician tasks. Transparent and clearly structured training to achieve specialist status is essential. It has been shown that a balanced work-life balance can be achieved for surgeons. Family and career can be reconciled in appropriately organized departments by making use of part-time and shift models that exclude 24-h shifts and making working hours more flexible.
KW  - distress
KW  - economy
KW  - gender
KW  - Generation Y
KW  - surgery
KW  - working conditions
KW  - work-life balance
Y1  - 2019
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51098
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-510984
SN  - 2364-7485
N1  - ©2019 Schmitz-Rixen T., Grundmann R.T., published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License. BY 4.0
VL  - 4
IS  - 2
SP  - 51
EP  - 57
PB  - de Gruyter
CY  - Berlin
ER  -