The Attrition and Migration Behaviour among Hungarian Radiographers

Abstract

Introduction: Organizations are social systems where human resources are the most important factors. In recentyears, healthcare employers have assigned a high priority to the recruitment of educated health professionals. Theaim of our study was to identify the possible reasons behind the migration and attrition behaviour amongHungarian radiographers. We were interested whether the professional staff have ideas across borders which canbe connected with attrition.Material and Methods: In our cross-sectional retrospective study we used a self designed questionnaire and theEffort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire’s shortened version. Our target group were active radiographerswith BSC radiography degree. The study sample counted 216 radiographers (n=216). For data analysis we used theSPSS 13.0. Variance analysis, paired sample T-test, Chi-square test, linear regression and descriptive statisticswere used with the performed probability of 95% (p<0.05).Results: 30.6% of responders (n=66) were considering working abroad, 40.3% (n=87) of responders remain inHungary. At the age group of 20–30 we can observe significant relationship between the working opportunityabroad (p=0.001). The migration tendency was specific for radiographers with no children (n=54). We found asignificant relationship between the working ability abroad and the radiographers’ years spent working in thehealthcare system (p=0.008). 41.7% of respondents (n=90) think that it would be a favorable option to making acareer change. We also found a significant relationship between the possibility of working abroad and the desirefor higher wages and the lack of making career advancements as a radiographer (p=0.001; p=0.001).Conclusion: Correlation of our results with similar research was difficult because very few researchers put theirinterest into radiographers. In respect to other healthcare workers (eg.: nurses, physiotherapists) our resultcorrelate well with the literature. Our research provides a broad view of the migration and attrition tendencyamong Hungarian radiographers and its underlying causes. According to our study changes should beimplemented in the Hungarian system to keep the younger radiographers home.