O desafio dos recursos humanos na área da saúde privada e pública

: as motivações dos profissionais de saúde

Abstract

In the last decades, the supply of health care in Portugal has undergone a major change. The role of the private sector in the National Health Service is becoming more and more important, as it already plays a fundamental role in the delivery of health care, according to the study "Private Sector of Health in Portugal" carried out by the consultant Augusto Mateus & Associados, 2017. Private health care has been growing more and more, solidifying itself as an alternative to public services, since they are often faster and offer more services (for example, in relation to services of dentistry) thus giving the population the opportunity to choose their caregivers. The private health sector is not only an opportunity for users, but also for health professionals, who, due to Portuguese law, have a great deal of ease in moving between the public sector and the private health sector, since, according to the Health Bases Act supports the development of the private health sector by facilitating public-private mobility in order to meet the needs of the population, thus avoiding conflicts of interest between public activities and private activities. The main objective of this dissertation is to understand the reasons that cause health professionals to work in the private and the reasons that cause health professionals to work in the public. To do so, a qualitative methodology was used, with 11 health professionals interviewed, 5 of whom worked in the private health sector and 6 in the public health sector. The interviews are semi-structured, with the goal to accessing information about the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, on well-being at work, motivation and the relation with individualism/collectivism at work. While the individualist perspective emphasizes individual goals, waiting for the individual to meet individual needs, collectivism will give more importance to group needs and goals. The results showed that the possibility of career progression, coupled with good remuneration, are the main reasons for these professionals to choose the private sector. The main motivations pointed out by the public sector are the profession, the desire to help others and the love they have for the science. In general, the reports of public and private health professionals are very similar in terms of autonomy, motivation and orientation and vocation to the work they do.

Date of Award	9 Jul 2018
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Eva Dias de Oliveira (Supervisor)