A UC Davis study of more than 6,500 physicians has found significant distinctions in job satisfaction based on medical specialty. Physicians who treat the elderly and children top the satisfaction list, while gynecologists and surgeons had lower satisfaction levels.

Published online in BMC Health Services Research, the study indicates that better tracking of medical students and residents into specialty areas — and better education as to what each of those specialties entails — is necessary to assure long-term career satisfaction in medicine.

Career relevance

“Students need to know what they are getting into and set reasonable expectations for their careers, allowing them to better explore options early on,” said Paul Leigh, professor in the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research and lead author of the study. “It is important that they get this specific guidance early on, since it is very difficult for physicians to undergo mid-career changes after making the significant initial training investment.”

In addition to helping retool medical education, Leigh, a specialist in labor and health economics, believes the findings are important because physician satisfaction has a direct impact on quality of care.

“Physician satisfaction is associated with patient satisfaction and outcomes, while physician dissatisfaction is associated with an increase in medical errors,” said Leigh. “It is important to identify issues of physician satisfaction and make changes that can reverse those trends.”

For the study, Leigh gathered data on 6,590 U.S. physicians from the Community Tracking Physician Study, which contains health and health-care information collected in 2004-05 from households, health plans and physicians practicing in 42 specialty areas and 60 communities.

A copy of the study, Physician Career Satisfaction within Specialties, can be downloaded at www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/9/166.

— UC Davis Health System