Map and staffing characteristics of the nursing institutions in a Health Region in Greece during the health crisis

Background: Adequate staffing of the National Health System increases its efficiency, and effectiveness of the health care services provided and ensures public health. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to record the staffing map of secondary and tertiary health care structures in an Administrative Health Region, during the health crisis. Material - Method: The sample of the study consists of 25,256 employees, of all specialties and educational levels, who staff the 24 hospitals of Attica. The data were drawn from the databases maintained by the 1st Administrative Health Region. The SPSS 25 program was used for the statistical analysis. Results: 27.9% of the staff consists of doctors of all specialties and 33.7% of nurses, 70.9% of the employees are women, 35.5% are university graduates, while 29.3% were technological graduates. In the years 2018 up to the first quarter of 2021, a total of 8,376 new recruitments of various specialties took place, while in the period up to the end of 2021, which coincides with the period of the health crisis, 6,130 health worker departures had taken place or were planned. Conclusions: Chronic understaffing is a characteristic of the health system in Greece. The increased needs created by the covid-19 pandemic made it imperative to recruit to cover the chronic shortages but also to deal with the extraordinary and increased health needs in the context of an already understaffed health system.

Keywords: Health Region, human resources, staffing, health crisis, Greece