Young doctors avoid crucial but low-paying specialties due to better private sector prospects across Europe.
🔗 Read the article on ilsole24ore.com
[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]
Young Italian doctors are avoiding less lucrative but vital public health specialties due to career prospects and higher earnings in the private sector. Many crucial fields like clinical pathology, radiotherapists, and pain management have seen high rates of unassigned spots during specialization applications. Similarly, emergency medicine and surgery saw significant numbers of unfilled positions. Conversely, specialties such as pediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, plastic/aesthetic surgery, and cardiology are highly sought after because they offer better private sector opportunities. Overall, 17% of medical specialization contracts in Italy went unassigned this year, a slight decrease from previous years. Comparisons with other European countries show varied trends: Spain favors dermatology due to work-life balance; Bulgaria sees growing interest in pediatrics despite historical funding disparities; France prioritizes technical and remunerative fields like plastic surgery; Romania shows high demand for cardiology and aesthetic medicine while general surgery remains unattractive; Austria maintains a strong focus on general practice; Ireland relies heavily on general practice, especially rurally, alongside an increase in non-standard training paths; and Lithuania faces structural shortages despite competition in dermatology and cardiology, partly due to self-financing requirements.
