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

Abstract

Background 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. 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. Methods We 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. Results A 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. Conclusions The 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. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12995-019-0237-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Work-Related Intervention Needs and Potential Occupational Outcomes among Medical Assistants: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…As a previous study of our group has shown, the prevalence of work-related intervention needs is high among MAs [22]. Furthermore, there was no evidence of associations between the unmet work-related intervention needs and various individual or practice related factors.…”

“…This suggests that there are no specific subgroups that need to be taken into account when planning interventions. Instead, all MAs should be targeted [22].…”

“…Work-related intervention needs were measured by an instrument created by the study team. Briefly, potentially relevant items were derived from prior qualitative research [17], and the resulting item pool was then reduced and psychometrically evaluated [22]. This process yielded an instrument with 12 items which were grouped into three factors.…”

“…While the ERI and other dominant instruments that measure psychosocial working conditions are important tools in occupational health research, they do not cover to what extent employees want or expect certain working conditions to be actually modified. To fill this gap, we developed and used a tool which specifically measures MAs’ actual work-related intervention needs [22]. The resulting desired work-related intervention needs pertained to working conditions, reward from the supervisor and task-related independence [22].…”

“…To fill this gap, we developed and used a tool which specifically measures MAs’ actual work-related intervention needs [22]. The resulting desired work-related intervention needs pertained to working conditions, reward from the supervisor and task-related independence [22]. Overall, high prevalences of unmet needs for work-related modifications have been identified among all participating MAs.…”