Easy come, easy go? Time to change our approach to staff retention in emergency medicine

Why do Doctors leave their posts in emergency medicine? And what makes them stay? These are perennial questions for health service leaders concerned about staff and their workforce. However, what do we really know about the factors that influence doctors decisions to stay or go in the health service in general and specifically in emergency care? From a health service perspective we know that if staff are required to perform work under adverse conditions on a permanent basis they will inevitably encounter health and performance problems with musculoskeletal disorders and mental health issues (in particular psychological stress) representing the headline causes of absence and early withdrawal from work. We also know that by designing work to fit staff capability and capacity, this will likely increase their disposition to extend their working lives.1 As a means to understand individual capability and capacity, the processes of annual review and appraisal provide …