Current status and job satisfaction of village doctors in western China

Abstract

To strengthen rural health services, the Chinese government has launched a series of policies to promote health workforce development. This study aims to understand the current status of village doctors and to explore the factors associated with village doctors’ job satisfaction in western China. It also attempts to provide references for further building capacities of village doctors and promoting the development of rural health service policy. A multistage stratified sampling method was used to obtain data from a cross-sectional survey on village doctors across 2 provinces of western China during 2012 to 2013. Quantitative data were collected from village doctors face-to-face, through a self-administered questionnaire. Among the 370 respondents, 225 (60.8%) aged 25 to 44 years, and 268 (72.4%) were covered by health insurance. Their income and working time calculated by workloads were higher than their self-report results. Being healthy, working fewer years, and having government funding and facilities were the positive factors toward their job satisfaction. Village doctors working with government-funded village clinics or facilities were more likely to feel satisfied. Problems identified previously such as low income and lack of insurance, heavy workload and aging were not detected in our study. Instead, village doctors were better-paid and better-covered by social insurance than other local rural residents, with increased job satisfaction. Government policies should pay more attention to improving the quality of rural health services and the income and security system of village doctors, to maintain and increase their job satisfaction and work enthusiasm. Further experimental study could evaluate effects of government input to improve rural health human resources and system development.

Application of Telemedicine Services Based on a Regional Telemedicine Platform in China From 2014 to 2020: Longitudinal Trend Analysis

“…In our study, we found that 99.04% of invited doctors met the requirements, which is much higher than the percentage of legacy face-to-face consultations. Only 27.5% of doctors in primary medical institutions (eg, township hospitals and village clinics) have proper professional titles, which is one of the reasons that they could not provide high-quality medical services [ 37 , 38 ]. As one motivation for the rapid development of telemedicine, patients of primary hospitals could also receive better diagnoses and treatments from experienced experts with senior titles.…”

Changes in the Job Satisfaction of Village Clinic Doctors Since the New Health Care System Reform: A Comparison Based on Three Surveys in Shandong, China

“…[40]- [41] In addition, the increase in workload extended the part-time working hours of VCDs. Previous studies have shown that most VCDs work part-time in agricultural production, commercial activities or temporary employment, [20] in addition to providing health services, to effectively provide for their families. However, with the increasing workload, VCDs have had to spend more time working to provide health services, resulting in the continuous reduction in income from their other part-time jobs.…”

“…Regarding VCDs' JS, Zhang Qi et al studied the current level of the JS of VCDs in western China, and the results showed that 44.6% of VCDs expressed dissatisfaction with their work. [20] Zhang Xiaoyan et al described the current situation of VCDs' JS in Jiangxi Province, and the results showed that 87.28% of VCDs expressed dissatisfaction. [21] Ding Haiyun et al described the current JS of VCDs in Nanjing, and the results showed that 46.5% of VCDs were dissatis ed with their job.…”

Effect of healthcare system reforms on job satisfaction among village clinic doctors in China

“…In addition, the increase in workload extended the part-time working hours of VCDs. Previous studies have shown that most VCDs work part-time in agricultural production, commercial activities or temporary employment [24], in addition to providing health services, to effectively provide for their families. However, with the increasing workload, VCDs have had to spend more time working to provide health services, resulting in the continuous reduction in income from their other part-time jobs.…”

“…It was an important topic in this research area. Zhang et al [24] studied the current level of the JS of VCDs in western China, and the results showed that 44.6% of VCDs expressed dissatisfaction with their work. Zhang et al [25] described the current situation of VCDs' JS in Jiangxi Province, and the results showed that 87.28% of VCDs expressed dissatisfaction.…”