Migration of m
ental h
ealth prof
essionals is an important ph
enom
enon influ
encing m
ental h
ealth s
ervic
es of host and donor countri
es. Data on m
edical migration in Europ
e is v
ery limit
ed, particularly in th
e fi
eld of young doctors and psychiatry. To r
es
earch this hot topic, th
e Europ
ean F
ed
eration of Psychiatric Train
ees (EFPT) conduct
ed th
e EFPT Brain Drain Surv
ey.
ec_2">Objectives
To identify the impact of previous short-term mobility on international migration and to understand characteristics, patterns and reasons of migration.
ec_3">Methods
In this cross-sectional European multicentre study, data were collected from 2281 psychiatric trainees across 33 countries. All participants answered to the EFPT Brain Drain Survey reporting their attitudes and experiences on migration.
ec_4">Results
Two-thirds of the trainees had not had a short-mobility experience in their lifetime, but those that went abroad were satisfied with their experiences, reporting that these influenced their attitude towards migration positively. However, the majority of the trainees had not had a migratory experience of more than 1 year. Flows showed that Switzerland and United Kingdom have the greatest number of immigrant trainees, whereas Germany and Greece have the greatest number of trainees leaving. ‘'Pull factors'’ were mostly academic and personal reasons, whereas ‘'push factors'’ were mainly: academic and financial reasons. Trainees that wanted to leave the country were significantly more dissatisfied with their income.
ec_5">Conclusions
The majority of the trainees has considered leaving the country they currently lived in, but a lower percentage has taken steps towards migration.
