Australian general practitioners: desperately seeking satisfaction

Australian Health Care Agreements 2003–2008: a new dawn?

“…A burgeoning international literature on “unhappy” doctors and nurses offers all manner of causal explanations, and proposals for remediation. This literature usually presupposes that the causes lie in the specifics of healthcare 2 . ‐ 4 However, this seems unlikely.…”

The catastrophic collapse of morale among hospital physicians in Japan

“…The past few decades have witnessed a loss in physicians’ autonomy, their dwindling prestige, and a deep professional malaise in many advanced nations, including the United Kingdom,1–3 the United States,4 Canada,5 and Australia 6. Many physicians encounter frustration and feel discontented with their professional lives.…”

“…A US report indicated that the dissatisfaction of US physicians was caused by constraints imposed by Managed Care, a malpractice crisis, a disparity in expectations between physicians and patients, a lack of time for routine work, and the imposition of many nonmedical roles for which physicians were never trained 4. A number of reports have discussed other possible reasons 2,3,5,6. An expanding volume of empirical data and anecdotes, although not scientific, supports this view.…”

Australian general practice: time for renewed purpose

“…However, all is not well with general practice. Australian GPs, along with their international colleagues, protest that they are undervalued, overworked and no longer in control 3 . “They feel like hamsters on a treadmill.…”