Canadian family physician job satisfaction - is it changing in an evolving practice environment? An analysis of the 2013 National Physician Survey database

Abstract

BackgroundTo explore the determinants of job satisfaction and work-life balance satisfaction of family physicians in Canada.MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of the Canadian 2013 National Physician’s Survey using descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression. An estimated 34,753 family physicians practicing in Canada at the time of survey administration in 2013 were eligible for the survey. The main outcome measures were respondent satisfaction with professional life and satisfaction with work-life balance.ResultsThe survey had a response rate of 17%. Seventy-two percent of respondents were satisfied with their professional lives, and 49% were satisfied with their work-life balance. Male family physicians had lower odds of satisfaction with their work-life balance than their female counterparts (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.82–0.92). Family physicians using an electronic medical record had higher odds of dissatisfaction with their professional lives (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.05–1.22) and work-life balance (OR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.15–1.30) than those not using an EMR. Family physicians not in a focused practice had greater odds of dissatisfaction (OR = 1.61, 95% CI 1.50–1.72) with both their professional lives and work-life balance (OR = 1.29, 95% CI 1.22–1.37) compared to their colleagues who have one or more areas of clinical focus.ConclusionsCanadian family physicians are more satisfied with their professional lives than with their work-life balance. Novel findings that family physicians with one or more clinical areas of focus are more satisfied with their work and work-life balance satisfaction, and that family physicians using electronic health records are less satisfied with their work and their work-life balance merit further inquiry.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12875-018-0786-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Association of intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors with physician burnout and job satisfaction: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Taiwan

“…The cross-sectional nature of this study requires future confirmation to better establish causality and to test strategies to reduce physician burnout and job dissatisfaction. Second, in alignment with the response rates of other national physician surveys (17.0%–23.2%),23 49 50 the response rate in this study was only 17.3%. However, non-response bias is less of a concern in surveys of physicians than it is in general population surveys, perhaps because physicians as a group are more homogeneous than are the general public in terms of demographics, knowledge and attitudinal characteristics 51 52.…”

“…Another factor contributing to the stability of the estimates may be the effectiveness of the non-response adjustment weightings for the sample of physician respondents 53. We constructed probability weights to adjust for potential bias 23 50 53…”

“…Based on the physician population, the results are confident to ±2.85% margin of error at the 95% confidence level. Case sampling weights were calculated from relevant physician characteristics in the final data set to adjust for non-response bias 4 23. The respondent sample was weighted to the physician population in terms of gender, age, practice region and practice site.…”

Changes in job satisfaction among doctors in Norway from 2010 to 2017: a study based on repeated surveys

“…On the other hand, increased satisfaction with work has been reported from doctors in the Netherlands from 2000 to 200948 and from six graduation cohorts from 1996 to 2012 in the UK 49. High levels of job satisfaction were documented from emergency medicine residents in the USA,50 family physicians in Canada,51 primary care physicians in Germany52 and doctors in Australia 53…”

Tailoring EHRs for Specific Working Environments Improves Work Well-Being of Physicians

“…An American study on physicians found that dissatisfaction with the EHR was associated with intent to reduce clinical work hours and to leave the current practice [ 26 ]. A Canadian study on family physicians’ job satisfaction found that the use of an EHR was negatively associated with both processional and work–life balance satisfaction [ 27 ], and an American study found that an increase in satisfaction on EHR use increased also job satisfaction among family physicians [ 28 ]. An American study found electronic medical record requirements as one of the six main themes emerging amongst qualitative interviews of 26 family physicians about job satisfaction and burnout [ 29 ].…”