Original scientific paper
Specialty Selection and Relative Job Satisfaction of Family Physicians and Medical Specialists in Austria
Wolfgang Spiegel
; Department of General Practice, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Otto Pichlhöfer
; Department of General Practice, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Diana Haoula
; Department of Internal Medicine, Wilhelminen Hospital, Vienna, Austria
Barbara Schneider
; Institute of medical Statistics, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Manfred Maier
; Department of General Practice, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Abstract
Aim To estimate the relative job satisfaction of Austrian family physicians
and other specialists with respect to whether or not they obtained
training in the desired specialty.
Methods In this cross-sectional study, we re-examined the previous
data on allocation of medical training posts in Austria. All board-certified
physicians practicing in Vienna were surveyed with a 12-item
questionnaire. We analyzed the association between respondents’ desired
and practiced medical specialty and their answer to the question
of whether they thought they would have had greater job satisfaction
in a different medical specialty. We also calculated their relative job
satisfaction.
Results Of 8127 licensed physicians, 2736 (34%) completed the questionnaire
in two mailings. Of physicians who completed the questionnaire,
50.3% (43.2% of men) did not obtain the training in their
desired specialty and 65.1% stated that they had originally desired a
different specialty. There was a significant difference in relative job
satisfaction between specialists who got their desired medical specialty
(n = 1005) and those who did not (n = 697) (0.95 vs 0.62 of maximum
1, P<0.001). No significant difference in relative job satisfaction was
found between family physicians who had originally wanted to become
specialists (n = 679) and specialists who had originally wanted to become
family physicians (n = 533; 0.89 vs 0.81; P = 0.01; χ2 test).
Conclusion A high percentage of family physicians in Austria had
originally wanted to become practitioners of a different specialty.
Among physicians who did not receive training in their desired medical
specialty, family physicians showed a significantly higher relative job
satisfaction than specialists. Obtaining the desired medical specialty is
a strong predictor of relative job satisfaction among specialists, but not
among family physicians.
Keywords
Graduate medical education; medical specialties; job satisfaction; family practice; primary care
Hrčak ID:
29254
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2008.
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