This paper addresses the issue of staff shortages in the Polish healthcare sector, with a particular focus on medical professions other than that of a physician. Although Poland has reached a level comparable to the OECD average in terms of the number of doctors per thousand inhabitants, significant personnel shortages persist in fields such as nursing and medical care. These shortages limit the accessibility and quality of healthcare services while also leading to the inefficient use of system resources—highly qualified doctors and nurses are often compelled to perform tasks that could be delegated to other medical support staff.
The author also highlights the high degree of feminization in certain medical professions; in nursing and medical care, for instance, women account for over 90% of the workforce. Consequently, many boys and men do not view these fields as viable career paths, which further constrains efforts to increase the total number of healthcare workers.
The primary recommendation presented in this policy brief is to promote the professional engagement of men and increase their participation in medical occupations—specifically through a pilot program aimed at unemployed men. This program would include training courses for medical care assistants, followed by job placement for participants. Complementing this initiative, the brief proposes public awareness campaigns designed to present professions such as nursing and medical care as attractive and accessible to men, while also encouraging high school students to consider these career paths.
Maksymilian Kociuba is a student of Public Policy and History at the University of Warsaw. He is a member of the Association for Boys and Men (Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Chłopców i Mężczyzn) and the Rokicie District Council in Łódź. His academic and activist interests focus on gender inequalities and the energy transition.
The project was mentored by Professor Elżbieta Skorupska—Acting Head of the Department of Physiotherapy at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences, a physiotherapist, and a certified practitioner of invasive techniques in physiotherapy.
The article is available on the Tygodnik Medyczny. A full report, featuring a detailed analysis of the proposal presented, will be published on our website soon.
This work was developed as part of the "Young Think Policy Briefs: Health" program.