[Work accidents associated with the discouragement of SERUMS physicians to work in the primary care services of Lima, Peru].

BACKGROUND: Employee retention is an important issue, because professionals are required in primary care services (PCS). The objective was to determine whether accidents were associated with the discouragement of physicians to work in PCS in Lima, Peru.

METHODS: Analytical cross-sectional study of secondary data from a database generated from a survey of physicians who performed his Rural and Urban Health Care Service (Servicio Rural y Urbano-Marginal en Salud: SERUMS). We only included physicians who said at the beginning of their SERUMS that they could work in PCS in Lima. Those who completed their service and reported that they no longer wished to work in Lima were defined as change of intention to work in PCS. This was associated with having a work accident and was adjusted with other variables.

RESULTS: Out of 124 physicians, 63% (78) were men. Median age was 26 years (interquartile range: 25-27 years). After they completed their SERUMS, 12% (15) said they changed their mind and that they wished to work in Lima. In the multivariate analysis, having had an accident diminished the frequency of changing their mind of working in the PCS (aPR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.14-0.54, p < 0.001), adjusted for eight variables.

CONCLUSIONS: A previous study found that work accidents decreased the frequency outside Lima, but our study states the opposite, probably because of the perception that a job in the capital would allow them to be closer to services; to be cared for in case of any emergency.