Australian doctors report high rates of job satisfaction

More than 80% of Australian doctors are moderately or very satisfied with their jobs, a national survey has found.

Doctors who had a good support network, whose household had a high income, and who believed that their patients had realistic expectations were most likely to report high satisfaction.

Other factors associated with professional satisfaction were being able to take time off, being younger or close to retirement, and having good self reported health.

However, the researchers noted that “the direction of causality in these relationships is unknown.”

The survey findings, published in the 3 January edition of the Medical Journal of Australia (2011;194:30-3, www.mja.com.au/public/issues/194_01_030111/joy11511_fm.html), come from an ongoing longitudinal study by researchers from Melbourne and Monash Universities that is investigating the professional and personal drivers of satisfaction in the Australian medical workforce.

The survey, of 10 498 doctors, 19% of those who were contacted and eligible, found that 86% were moderately or very satisfied with their jobs, with no significant differences between GPs, specialists, and specialists in training. Hospital non-specialists were less satisfied.

Less than 2% of doctors in each group were very dissatisfied, but 12% of hospital non-specialists were moderately dissatisfied, whereas in the other groups this proportion was 7-8%.

No significant difference was seen in the proportions of male and female doctors who reported being very satisfied with their job. The findings also suggested “that overseas-trained doctors have the same level of satisfaction as Australian-trained doctors,” the researchers wrote.

With Australia in the throes of national health reform, the researchers said that their findings set an important baseline for examining the effects of policy changes on doctors’ job satisfaction.

The survey was conducted between June and November 2008, before the Australian government announced its national health reform agenda, which includes the establishment of primary healthcare organisations and the Australian National Preventive Health Agency and changes to the financing and governance of public hospitals.

The researchers said that doctors’ satisfaction is an important issue as it affects their decisions to reduce working hours or quit the workforce and is also associated with patients’ satisfaction and quality of care.

Among previously reported findings from the study were that female GPs earn an average 25% less than their male counterparts and that GPs on average earn 32% less than specialists. The average annual pretax personal earnings of GPs and specialists were $A177 883 (£114 400; €137 000; $US180 000) and $316 570, respectively.

Commenting on the latest findings, Peter Brooks, director of the Australian Health Workforce Institute at the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in the study, said that the results were unsurprising, given that Australian doctors were relatively well paid.

The findings might help lure UK doctors to Australia, he added.

“Australian doctors are probably better paid than many doctors around the world,” said Professor Brooks. “All those doctors in England who want to opt out of the system should come out to Australia where they’re well paid.”

Professor Brooks said that the media were largely responsible for ongoing negative headlines about the state of medicine, although some doctors also contributed so as to lobby for funding for their areas. He said, “If you’re running a busy accident and emergency department or other service, the best way of getting extra funding is to show you can’t cope with the load and appeal to the politicians, who are unable to resist the quick fix, rather than thinking of innovative ways of getting more out of the system.

“Money is often used to oil the squeaky wheel, which is not necessarily the best way of providing long term solutions.”