Paper short abstract:

Protests of 'Porozumienie Rezydentów' (Junior Doctor's Association) in Poland were caused by worsening situation in the Polish healthcare system. This presentation aims to analyse work attitues of doctors who decided not to emigrate despite bad working conditions in the context of those protests.

Paper long abstract:

For many years the situation in the Polish healthcare system has been worsening. This led to the reactivation of the 'Porozumienie Rezydentów' (Junior Doctor's Association) in 2015. The organization's objective is to influence the situation of Polish junior doctors: the demands include higher wages, better working conditions, better quality of training and changes in the form of the training. The recent protests organised by the Association revealed the attitudes of young doctors towards their work. Those attitudes might be crucial in the debate concerning the present state of Polish healthcare. Taking into account the massive emmigration of Polish doctors caused by welcoming job offers from EU countries, the decision not to leave becomes an unobvious choice. This presentation aims to take a closer look at attitudes of Polish doctors who decided to stay in Poland and engaged in the activity of 'Porozumienie Rezydentów'. The analysis strives for an overall account of what drives young doctors to stay in the context of their attitudes to their job and an anthropological analysis of the subject - expecially in the light of Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms.