Cross-sectional survey on job satisfaction and its associated factors among doctors in tertiary public hospitals in Shanghai, China

OBJECTIVES: Doctors in public hospitals in China face considerable pressure and excessive workloads, which are likely to predispose them to job dissatisfaction. We explored the job satisfaction of doctors and examined the influence of diverse sociodemographic characteristics. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. SETTING: Eleven tertiary public hospitals in Shanghai, China. PARTICIPANTS: The questionnaire was designed based on the fifth National Health Service General Research, which was based on the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered to 897 doctors randomly (using random number tables) and 730 were returned completed (response rate=81.4%). Doctors who volunteered and provided informed, written consent participated. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The dependent variable was doctors’ job satisfaction. RESULTS: Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS and SAS. Overall, 64.8% of participants were dissatisfied with their jobs. Factors that were statistically significant to doctors’ job satisfaction in the univariate analysis were entered into the logistic regression analysis, including doctors’ professional title, department, work hours, work requirements (reflected as the number of patients they diagnosed and treated monthly), life and work stress, and the types of patients that doctors treated or expected to treat. The results of the logistic regression analysis suggested that doctors’ job satisfaction was related to their professional title, types of patients that doctors treated or expected to treat, as well as their work stress. CONCLUSIONS: There is an urgent need for public hospitals in China to establish a more reasonable promotion and management system for doctors, encourage patients to accept the two-way referral, pay more attention to less-experienced staff and help doctors release their work stress.