The Migration Preferences of Newly Graduated Physcians in Turkey

The issue of physician migration taking an important part in the brain drain is one of the focal points of the human resources policies in health. This issue is more important for countries like Turkey, where there is a shortage of physicians. The objective of this study is to research the reasons that could affect the migration preferences and to provide a basis to develop alternative policies to decrease the physician migration. For this purpose, the opinions of the physicians, who have newly graduated from the faculties of medicine in Turkey and haven’t started working yet, about working or speciality studying in homeland or abroad are investigated. All newly graduated physicians were included in the study via online questionnaire. Variables that could be related to desire to study or work abroad were analyzed through logistic regression. 54.6% of the newly graduated physicians had a desire to study (Specialty/Ph.D.) or work abroad. However, only 22.6% of physicians who inclined to migrate have partially or completely made an attempt. Male physicians were more eager to emigrate. The physicians whose level of foreign language is very good were also more eager to study/work abroad.
Researching the reasons of the physicians to go abroad is very important to decrease the physician migration or turning it into an advantage. Therefore, the findings of this study and similar studies should be taken into consideration and the migration policies should be reviewed in this direction. Moreover, a systematic migration record system should be established and information sharing about the migration should be provided quickly in both our country and the countries of origin.