TY - JOUR T1 - Retention of medical officers in district health services, South Africa: a descriptive survey JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/BJGPO.2022.0047 VL - 6 IS - 4 SP - BJGPO.2022.0047 AU - Robert Mash AU - Beverley Williams AU - Dusica Stapar AU - Gavin Hendricks AU - Herma Steyn AU - Johann Schoevers AU - Leigh Wagner AU - Mumtaz Abbas AU - Paul Kapp AU - Stefanie Perold AU - Steve Swartz AU - Werner Viljoen AU - Muideen Bello Y1 - 2022/12/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/6/4/BJGPO.2022.0047.abstract N2 - Background The health workforce is critical to strengthening district health services (DHS). In the public sector of South Africa, medical officers (MOs) are essential to delivering services in primary health care (PHC) and district hospitals. Family physicians, responsible for clinical governance, identified their retention as a key issue.Aim To evaluate factors that influence retention of MOs in public sector DHS.Design & setting A descriptive survey of MOs working in DHS, Western Cape, South Africa.Method All 125 MOs working in facilities associated with the Stellenbosch University Family Physician Research Network (SUFPREN) were included in the survey. A questionnaire measured the prevalence of key factors that might be associated with retention (staying >4 years) and included the Satisfaction of Employees in Health Care (SEHC) tool and Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Data were collected in Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) and analysed in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Results Ninety-five MOs completed the survey. The overall rating of the facility (P = 0.001), age (P = 0.004), seniority (P = 0.015), career plans (P<0.001), and intention to stay in the public sector (P<0.001) were associated with retention. More personal factors such as social support (P = 0.007), educational opportunities for children (P = 0.002), and staying with one’s partner (P = 0.036) were also associated with retention. Sex, rural versus urban location, district hospital versus primary care facility, overtime, remuneration, and additional rural allowance were not associated with retention.Conclusion The overall rating of the facility was important and subsequent qualitative work has explored the underlying issues. These findings can guide strategies in the Western Cape and similar settings to retain MOs in the DHS. ER -