Investigation of the public health specialist status of provincial health director and head of public health services in Türkiye: Short report

Abstract

Public health education aims to train specialist physicians who are qualified and qualified to work as managers in all health institutions providing health services, including the Provincial Health Directorate or the Directorate of Public Health Services. While public health specialists can work as managers in these institutions, they can also work as researchers, consultants or direct service providers. In this descriptive study, the descriptive information of the Provincial Health Director and the Head of Public Health Services available on the corporate websites of provincial health directorates were evaluated. Office 2016-Excel program was used for data analysis. 97.5% (n=79) of the Provincial Health Directors were male. According to their titles, 43.3% (n=35) were specialists, 42% (n=34) were general practitioners and the remaining 14.7% (n=12) were faculty members. Among all directors, emergency medicine was the most common specialty with 9.9% (n=8). In only one province, the provincial health director was a public health specialist (Dr. Faculty Member). 75.3% of the Heads of Public Health Services are male. According to their titles, 60.5% (n=49) were general practitioners, 32.1% (n=26) were specialists, 5% (n=4) were faculty members, 1 dentist and 1 midwife. Among all chairpersons, public health specialists ranked first with 13.6% (n=11) according to their specialty. Of the 11 public health specialists (2 PhDs), 1 is an Assoc. Member. Public health specialists should be prevented from being assigned outside their field of work.