Factors identified with higher levels of career satisfaction of physicians in Andalusia, Spain

• Main Authors: Juan Nicolás Peña-Sánchez, Rein Lepnurm, José Miguel Morales-Asencio, Ana Delgado, Alicja Domagała, Maciej Górkiewicz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open Medical Publishing 2014-09-01
• Series: Health Psychology Research
• Subjects: physicians, career satisfaction, dimensions, motivational factors, Andalusia
• Online Access: http://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/hpr/article/view/1527

The satisfaction of physicians is a world-wide issue linked with the quality of health services; their satisfaction needs to be studied from a multi-dimensional perspective, considering lower- and higher-order needs. The objectives of this study were to: i) measure the career satisfaction of physicians; ii) identify differences in the dimensions of career satisfaction; and iii) test factors that affect higher- and lower-order needs of satisfaction among physicians working in Andalusian hospitals (Spain). Forty-one percent of 299 eligible physicians participated in a study conducted in six selected hospitals. Physicians reported higher professional, inherent, and performance satisfaction than personal satisfaction. Foreign physicians reported higher levels of personal and performance satisfaction than local physicians, and those who received non-monetary incentives had higher professional and performance satisfaction. In conclusion, physicians in the selected Andalusian hospitals reported low levels of personal satisfaction. Non-monetary incentives were more relevant to influence their career satisfaction. Further investigations are recommended to study differences in the career satisfaction between foreign and local physicians.