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Physician Career Satisfaction Across Specialties: Are We Getting the True Picture?

Physician Career Satisfaction Across Specialties: Are We Getting the True Picture? The article by Leigh et al1 on physician satisfaction deals with a very important construct, "satisfaction," and is very informative. The data set is large and accounts for a large number of variables that affect physician satisfaction. However, we wish to raise some concerns regarding the interpretation of the data in the study. Income has been shown to be significantly and positively correlated with physician satisfaction in not only this study but also many other previous studies.2 While ranking the specialties on the "very satisfied" and "dissatisfied" categories, the authors have controlled for not only demographic variables but also an important variable such as income, which is dependent on specialty chosen. This has resulted in ranking physician satisfaction among specialties irrespective of what the earning potential of such specialties are. This might have resulted in spuriously lower rankings of highly sought after specialties such as ophthalmology, otolaryngology, cardiology, and gastroenterology and might also explain the discrepancy in rankings of this study compared with previous studies (in which income was not controlled).2 Career decisions regarding choosing a specialty by medical students and residents are not made in a vacuum but with keeping the earning potential of the specialty in mind. The ranking enlisted in the study by Leigh et al1 may not be able to give an accurate picture to them. The other issue worth highlighting is the possibility of different physician satisfaction among academicians and private practitioners. The study by Leigh et al1 did not specify whether academic physicians were included in the survey and, if at all, what was their level of satisfaction. It is conceivable that the ranking of specialties may be different among academic physicians, especially when they are salaried and devote a significant amount of their time to research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities. It would have also been interesting to see whether academicians as a group have higher or lower physician satisfaction than private practitioners. References 1. Leigh JPKravitz RLSchembri MSamuels SJMobley S Physician career satisfaction across specialties. Arch Intern Med. 2002;1621577- 1584Google ScholarCrossref 2. Schulz RScheckler WEMoberg DPJohnson PR Changing nature of physician satisfaction with health maintenance organization and fee-for-service practices. J Fam Pract. 1997;45321- 330Google Scholar http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Internal Medicine American Medical Association

Physician Career Satisfaction Across Specialties: Are We Getting the True Picture?

Atreja, Ashish; Mehta, Neil
Archives of Internal Medicine , Volume 163 (2) – Jan 27, 2003
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Physician Career Satisfaction Across Specialties: Are We Getting the True Picture?

Abstract

The article by Leigh et al1 on physician satisfaction deals with a very important construct, "satisfaction," and is very informative. The data set is large and accounts for a large number of variables that affect physician satisfaction. However, we wish to raise some concerns regarding the interpretation of the data in the study. Income has been shown to be significantly and positively correlated with physician satisfaction in not only this study but also many other previous...
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References (2)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0003-9926
eISSN
1538-3679
DOI
10.1001/archinte.163.2.244-a
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The article by Leigh et al1 on physician satisfaction deals with a very important construct, "satisfaction," and is very informative. The data set is large and accounts for a large number of variables that affect physician satisfaction. However, we wish to raise some concerns regarding the interpretation of the data in the study. Income has been shown to be significantly and positively correlated with physician satisfaction in not only this study but also many other previous studies.2 While ranking the specialties on the "very satisfied" and "dissatisfied" categories, the authors have controlled for not only demographic variables but also an important variable such as income, which is dependent on specialty chosen. This has resulted in ranking physician satisfaction among specialties irrespective of what the earning potential of such specialties are. This might have resulted in spuriously lower rankings of highly sought after specialties such as ophthalmology, otolaryngology, cardiology, and gastroenterology and might also explain the discrepancy in rankings of this study compared with previous studies (in which income was not controlled).2 Career decisions regarding choosing a specialty by medical students and residents are not made in a vacuum but with keeping the earning potential of the specialty in mind. The ranking enlisted in the study by Leigh et al1 may not be able to give an accurate picture to them. The other issue worth highlighting is the possibility of different physician satisfaction among academicians and private practitioners. The study by Leigh et al1 did not specify whether academic physicians were included in the survey and, if at all, what was their level of satisfaction. It is conceivable that the ranking of specialties may be different among academic physicians, especially when they are salaried and devote a significant amount of their time to research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities. It would have also been interesting to see whether academicians as a group have higher or lower physician satisfaction than private practitioners. References 1. Leigh JPKravitz RLSchembri MSamuels SJMobley S Physician career satisfaction across specialties. Arch Intern Med. 2002;1621577- 1584Google ScholarCrossref 2. Schulz RScheckler WEMoberg DPJohnson PR Changing nature of physician satisfaction with health maintenance organization and fee-for-service practices. J Fam Pract. 1997;45321- 330Google Scholar

Journal

Archives of Internal Medicine – American Medical Association

Published: Jan 27, 2003

Keywords: job satisfaction

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