Webinar: Health care personnel brain drain in Albania, a scoping literature review
The trend to leave the country is increasing. The students of health care professions want to…
CHILDREN_FIRST Network Webinar Series 2024
Webinar title: Brain drain of health care personnel in Albania, determinants and mitigating factors by Vasilika Prifti
Presenter: Vasilika Prifti, PhD candidate, Transilvania University of Brasov, Doctoral School, Field of Medicine
Introduction: Migration of health workers ‘Brain drain’ is defined as the movement of health personnel in search of the better standard of living and life quality, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and more stable political conditions in different places worldwide. In Albania the migration of health care personnel in becoming an actual trend and everybody is leaving. There are various factors that have a significant impact on this phenomenon, thus it is important to try to reverse it in collaboration with the management and governmental institutions so that this wisdom of the country can stay and work here, where home is. The aim of the study is to evaluate the causes and incentives on migrating of health care students and professionals, in order to built a Brain Drain Reversal Strategy.
Methodology: This is a mix methods study 2023 and will continue up to June 2025, which is going to have in its main focus students of health care professions and health care personnel in Albania. The study is going to be conducted in three pars. The first part will use data from students of health care professions. The second part will use data from health care professionals and the third part will be an interview with the individuals who have returned back in Albania and are currently working in health care settings.
Results: There is some data from 143 students of health care professions in two main universities in the city of Vlore. 44.1% agree that if they migrate, their life would be better, half think that working abroad helps them to make more money, 28% do not agree that living and working in Albania would help their career, 38% think that if they work abroad their job would be more satisfiable, 35% think that the time spent in Albania is not a waste of time, 41% state that they would like to work abroad and this will make them more happy, 43% thinks that living abroad will increase their life standards, 41% would like to live in a country with more freedom of speech, 32% would endure difficulties in order to live abroad.
Conclusions: The trend to leave the country is increasing. The students of health care professions want to leave the country to find better working conditions, freedom, happiness and job satisfaction.
Key words: health care students, migration, trends, brain gain, brain drain
