Changes in hospital CEO profiles in Poland—Professionalisation of management?

PURPOSE: To present and discuss the findings of surveys on the profiles of hospital CEOs in Poland, as carried out in 2012 and 2017, involving over a hundred hospital CEOs at various reference levels. FINDINGS: The findings indicate appreciable changes in the group under study. While until recently, a typical hospital CEO was a male physician; presently, there is a fair proportion of women (36%). The majority of CEOs are non-physicians (63%), whereas previously, they accounted for approximately 63% of them. Mean work experience in public health care for male CEOs tends to decrease, whereas an opposite trend is well manifested with regard to female CEOs. It was also established that hospital CEOs were steadily less keen on improving their professional qualifications through postgraduate courses. CONCLUSION: These changes may imply a kind of "stabilisation" within the sector itself or a departure from the all-male, medicine-centred model of hospital management. They may have been caused by climbing expectations regarding overall management expertise and a higher salary level offered to physicians. Changes in individual work experience seem to indicate that men are more often "transplanted" from other industry sectors, whereas women tend to pursue their entire career path in public health care institutions.