Desired improvements of working conditions among medical assistants in Germany: a cross-sectional study

Jessica Scharf,Peter Angerer,Andreas Müller,Patricia Vu-Eickmann,Jian Li,Stefan Wilm,Adrian Loerbroks

doi:10.1186/s12995-019-0237-x

Abstract

BackgroundIn outpatient care in Germany, medical assistants (MAs) are the contact persons for patients’ concerns and their working conditions are relevant to their own health and the provided quality of care. MAs working conditions have been described as precarious leading to high levels of work stress. Consequently, we aimed to examine MAs’ needs for work-related improvements.MethodsWe surveyed 887 employed MAs between September 2016 and April 2017. A 20-item questionnaire measured desired improvements. To measure correlations between variables we computed a matrix of tetrachoric correlations for binary variables and performed an exploratory factor analysis. We ran ordinal logistic regression models employing 11 independent variables to examine determinants of needs.ResultsA total of 97.3% of the participants expressed any need and, on average, 10.27 needs were reported. Most frequently, needs were expressed related to a higher salary (87.0%), less documentation (76.0%) and more recognition from society (75.4%). Exploratory factor analysis suggested three dimensions of needs for work-related improvements (i.e. working conditions, reward from the supervisor and task-related independence). Ordinal logistic regression models only identified determinants for the outcome variable task-related independence, which was more frequent in those with longer work experience or in a leadership position.ConclusionsThe high prevalence of desired workplace-related improvements among MAs highlights the relevance of modifying their working conditions. The fact that we found only few determinants signals that there are no specific high-risk subgroups, but interventions to improve MAs’ working conditions should target the entire MA population.

Highlights

Medical assistants (MAs; in German: “Medizinische Fachangestellte”) represent the largest occupational group in outpatient care in the German health care system
Ordinal logistic regressions estimates are shown which analyze if the clustered work-related intervention needs are associated with sociodemographic or practicerelated determinants
As much as 63.4% of the medical assistant (MA) had less than 20 years of work experience

Summary

Introduction

Medical assistants (MAs; in German: “Medizinische Fachangestellte”) represent the largest occupational group in outpatient care in the German health care system. MAs’ working conditions have received little research attention to date. This is contrasted by abundant research on the working conditions of some other health care professions, in particular physicians and nurses [10, 11]. Compared to nurses, MAs’ tasks may range from administrative tasks to the execution of various medical procedures as delegated by the physician. As a consequence the match between the MAs preferred tasks and the actual tasks may be low Such mismatches have been found to be associated with reduced job satisfaction and poor mental health [14]. In outpatient care in Germany, medical assistants (MAs) are the contact persons for patients’ concerns and their working conditions are relevant to their own health and the provided quality of care. We aimed to examine MAs’ needs for work-related improvements

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Discussion

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