Vienna Faces "Severe Undersupply" of School Doctors

According to the Medical Association, there is a "severe undersupply" of school doctors in Vienna, especially at compulsory schools (elementary, middle schools). Currently, there are only 141 school doctors for 264,000 children and adolescents in the federal capital. 130 compulsory schools with over 35,000 children have to manage without regularly present school doctors. Vienna's Medical Association President Johannes Steinhart called for swift political action at a press conference on Wednesday.

Examination and Consultation by School Doctors

School doctors conduct, among other things, an annual examination of students, advise the administration and teaching staff on health issues, train teachers in first aid measures or dealing with chronically ill children, and are often the first point of contact for health and increasingly also psychological problems. The majority are women, many of whom also work in a practice. At federal schools (AHS, BMHS), one school doctor hour per week is currently planned for every 60 students, while in Vienna's compulsory schools, it would be one hour per 100 students if all positions were filled.

Time pressure and demands have increased for doctors at all schools over the past 30 years, reported Margit Saßhofer, head of the school doctors' department in the Vienna Medical Association. This also applies to other federal states. In addition to issues such as problematic media consumption, lack of exercise, and poor nutrition, there is also a massive increase in psychological problems, with more and more school beginners now showing psychological and psychiatric issues. Uncertainties regarding sexual identity are also significantly more common than before.

Personnel Situation at Vienna's Compulsory Schools "Precarious"

While at federal schools in Vienna, despite a wave of retirements, all school doctor positions can still be filled, the personnel situation in compulsory schools is "precarious," according to Saßhofer. Vaccinations, for example, which are actually the responsibility of school doctors at Vienna's compulsory schools, must therefore be taken over by external vaccination teams this year. One reason for these shortages is the significantly poorer pay in the compulsory school sector. The city of Vienna is striving for solutions, emphasized Steinhart. However, as is often the case in the healthcare system, this is complicated by a "competence confusion."

The school nurses, who have been deployed at 27 compulsory schools since this school year, cannot alleviate the situation for Saßhofer. Instead, she calls for a comprehensive supply of school doctors and significantly more offerings in school psychology and social work, ideally at each location several times a week. The massive shortage of school psychologists directly increases the time pressure on school doctors. They cannot handle three panic attacks in one morning and also examine 1,200 students.

"Working Like in the Penultimate Century"

In addition to time and personnel shortages, there is the problem "that we are working like in the penultimate century," according to Saßhofer. Officially, there is still no digital documentation program, so politics and health services currently cannot draw conclusions from the anonymized data on the health status of students. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health have already agreed on a corresponding program, but the decision in the National Council is still pending.

Steinhart also called for easier access to vaccinations for Viennese students, if possible directly at their location. At the same time, school doctors would like to be more involved in promoting health competencies, for example in regular teaching units on topics such as nutrition, exercise, or addiction prevention. This would also improve the health competence of the entire population by having students bring this knowledge home, according to Saßhofer.

(APA/Red)

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