Abstract:

The article focuses on the topic of the hospital's image as an employer. The pandemic situation has revealed flaws in the health care system in many countries. In Poland, the problem of hospital inefficiency has become apparent. We have 2.4 physicians per 1,000 citizens. Most of the specialist physicians are of pre-retirement age. Also, out of 306-408 people who obtain the right to practice each year, 158-171 go abroad. The main purpose of the article was to identify factors that influence hospital employer image. The research assumes that knowing and assessing these factors’ importance can contribute to the hospital's ability to attract new, qualified medical professionals. The research conducted using a structured questionnaire. The survey was preceded by literature research and interviews verifying the validity of the selected factors. The survey was conducted among public hospital medical employees (N=366) in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is the most urbanized region of Poland and has the largest number of hospitals. Based on the re-sults obtained, three research hypotheses were verified by statistical methods as chi-square test, Cramer's, Chuprov's, Kendall's coefficients, and two means test. The conducted research con-cludes that hospitals in the Silesian Voivodeship have a rather negative image on the labor market as employers. For persons looking for a job in a hospital, their acquaintances' opinions from and outside the healthcare sector about the hospital are most important, then information available on the hospital's website and in the press. What is convergent with the way of looking for a job - most of the respondents found out about the possibility of employment in a given hospital from their acquaintances already working in this hospital.