Health workforce management in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey of physicians in Serbia.

Background & Aim: The study describes the experiences and opinions of Serbian physicians regarding workforce management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials & Methods: A total of 1553 licensed physicians (65% males; average age 44.0 years) responded to an online survey in September 2020. Differences in the respondents' general data and attitudes regarding workforce management and outbreak preparedness in Serbia were analysed in relation to their engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic (Pearson χ2 and the independent samples t-test, p < 0.05). The logistic regression model explained the need for changing health workforce management.

Results: The results reveal that the physicians engaged in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 (64.4% of the respondents) more often than their counterparts, were clinicians from the public sector, younger, with less work experience, influenced negatively by the pandemic, and reassigned to other positions (p < 0.001). Health workers dissatisfied with workplace preparedness and those reassigned due to COVID-19 were by 2.61 times and 1.38 times, respectively, more likely than their counterparts to consider changes in health workforce management.

Discussion & Conclusion: COVID-19 underlines the need for changes in health workforce management during public health emergencies. An internal incident management team and a panel of external experts may support health workforce management during the prolonged and rapidly changing crises.