Effect of a three-years preventive medicine vocational education program on county-level healthcare workforce development in China: a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

A study in China found a shortage of preventive medicine professionals despite a vocational education program, with varying demand across provinces and a mismatch between training and job requirements.

Contribution

This study quantifies the gap between demand and supply of preventive medicine professionals in China after a vocational education initiative.

Findings

County-level CDCs and medical institutions require 15,007 preventive medicine professionals annually, but only 2,025 students are enrolled in vocational colleges.

Two-thirds of provinces still face significant demand for preventive medicine professionals.

Graduate students self-assessed their professional skills as insufficient for job requirements.

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the demand and supply of these professionals within healthcare institutions at the county level after the Chinese government launched a three-year vocational education program of preventive medicine in 2016.

A national cross-sectional design and multistage cluster sampling method were employed for this study. At the county level, a total of 132 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs), 346 medical institutions, 20 medical colleges and 1,083 graduate students were selected. Self-designed questionnaires were used to assess the demand and supply of these professionals. Descriptive statistics were applied to describe key data features.

The county-level CDCs and medical institutions required an average annual total of 15,007 preventive medicine professionals. However, vocational colleges have only enrolled 2,025 of these students per year. Moreover, approximately two-thirds of the provinces continued to face significant demand for preventive medicine professionals, Additionally, medical institutions prioritized clinical skills while the CDCs emphasized preventive expertise as essential qualities for preventive medicine professionals. The requirement for personal qualities were consistently of the utmost importance in healthcare institutions. Furthermore, the self-assessments conducted among graduate students in medical institutions have revealed a relative insufficiency of their professional skills.

There was a general shortage of professionals in vocational preventive medicine education in China; however, certain provinces exhibited a surplus supply relative to demand, and prospective graduates primarily secure employment within medical institutions. The enhancement and refinement of professional skills are imperative in order to align with the specific demands of the preventive medicine position.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-025-07095-w.

Figures