Quality of working life of medical doctors and associated risk factors: a cross-sectional survey in public hospitals in China

OBJECTIVES: To assess the quality of working life (QWL) of medical doctors and associated risk factors. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 2915 medical doctors from 48 hospitals was conducted in China. METHODS: The QWL-7–32 scale was adopted to assess seven domains of QWL: physical health, mental health, job and career satisfaction, work passion and initiative, professional pride, professional competence, and balance between work and family. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were analysed using SPSS V.19.0. Analysis of variance tests and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to identify the sociodemographic characteristics and job factors associated with overall QWL and its seven subdomain scores. RESULTS: On average, the respondents reported an overall QWL score of 92.51 (SD=17.74) of a possible 160. Over 35% of respondents reported more than 60 hours of weekly working time; 59.9% experienced night sleep deprivation frequently; 16.6% encountered workplace violence frequently. The multivariate regression models revealed that the eastern region (β≤−2.887 for non-eastern regions, p<0.001), shorter working hours (β≤−2.638 for over 40 hours a week, p<0.01), less frequent night sleep deprivation (β≤−5.366 for sometimes or frequent, p<0.001), higher income (β≥2.795 for lower income, p<0.001) and less frequent encounters of workplace violence (β≤−9.267 for sometimes or frequent, p<0.001) were significant predictors of higher QWL. Night sleep deprivation and workplace violence were common predictors (p<0.05) for all seven domains of QWL. CONCLUSION: The low QWL of medical doctors working in public hospitals in China is evident, which is associated with high workloads, low rewards and workplace violence. There are also significant regional differences in the QWL of medical doctors, with the eastern developed region featuring better QWL. Public hospitals in China are facing serious challenges in occupational health and safety, which needs to be addressed through a systems approach.