For over a year and a half, due to the pandemic, we have been hearing about key departments within hospitals such as emergency medicine and resuscitation on a daily basis. But the Covid emergency does not seem to have prompted young doctors to choose them as specializations. There is no shortage of empty seats: this year, writes the Courier service, there were 17,000 five-year scholarships available for postgraduates who will start courses on November 1st: 1,300 have not been awarded or have been refused.
That’s not all: the highest number of empty seats concerns Covid specializations. For emergency room doctors 1,077 scholarships 456 remained without holder. There were 2,100 available for anesthetists and resuscitation technicians, of which 166 remained empty, while 76 remained empty for microbiology and virology. An alarming picture. But it is not the first year that, faced with the choice of how to continue their studies, young doctors prefer “outpatient” professions. University minister Cristina Messa had already raised the alarm on this phenomenon which risks leaving many key posts in hospitals empty in the coming years. But what are the reasons that hold back future doctors?
According to Salvatore Manca, president of the Italian Society of Emergency-Urgency Medicine (Simeu), the problem lies in the lack of recognition of a profession made up of effort, pressure and great responsibility, combined with the difficulty of making careers. “Young people are discouraged to choose the specialization in first aid or resuscitation because it is a very burdensome job that is not recognized,” he explained to Corriere. In addition to “increased aggression by the sick and relatives which represent a worrying risk for all of us”. And according to resuscitators, there is no acknowledgment that it is a “wearing” profession.