European Union Mobility, Income and Brain Drain. The Attitudes towards Migration of Romanian Psychiatric Trainees
European Union Mobility, Income and Brain Drain. The Attitudes towards Migration of Romanian Psychiatric Trainees

Summary/Abstract: In general, a country’s human capital represents one of its most valuable assets. This issue becomes all the more significant, when considering that highly qualified and expert staff is hard to find, particularly in certain under-resourced areas, such as mental health care. A current trend, worldwide, involves medical professionals that are becoming increasingly mobile, pursuing jobs that can offer the utmost, in terms of income and overall quality of life. The present study aims to highlight the magnitude of the brain drain of Romanian psychiatrists and to shed light on some of the reasons behind it. The study was developed by the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees and was carried out during 2013-2014, as part of the international Brain Drain study. The only inclusion criterion was being a psychiatric trainee that had to be enrolled in a national training program, at the time. This paper aimed to analyze the available data about demographics, past experiences of short-term mobility, long-term migration and attitudes towards migration of psychiatric trainees, by means of a semi-structured, 61-item, self-report survey. The results showed that a significant percentage of the Romanian psychiatric trainees were dissatisfied with their income. The majority of the 14% of psychiatric trainees, who had previous experiences of mobility, had done so by traveling to high-income European countries, thus making the probability of working in another country, 5 years from now, seem higher, due to the multitude of economic and social advantages associated with such an environment. Half of all the respondents answered in favor of working in another state, while more than a third made actual practical steps towards achieving this. Additionally, it was noted that the more practical the steps they took, the more likely they were to migrate in the future.

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