Methodological Approaches to Measuring Job Satisfaction of a General Practitioner

Introduction: In line with the fundamental principles of the international guidelines on particular importance of “having a competent, motivated and supported health workforce” (WHO Declaration, 2019), the assessment of factors affecting job satisfaction of general practitioners (GPs) falls within the field of applied research on the quality of health care and achievement of patient satisfaction.

Objective: To develop the methodology and techniques for measuring and evaluating work environment factors affecting job satisfaction of GPs.

Materials and methods: We applied methods of questioning, statistical analysis, and summarizing of responses from 340 GPs of Moscow outpatient health facilities using the electronic Russian-language version of the international COPSOQ III questionnaire (Long version; 2022). The study was carried out as part of an expanded generalization of the data on the influence of workplace factors on the psychosocial well-being of general practitioners in outpatient clinics and substantiation of methodological approaches to assessing their job satisfaction. Additionally, based on the normalization of indicators and the ranking of psychosocial risk factors, we provided a rationale for the application of a methodological approach to statistical data analysis. The significance level was set to 5 % (i.e. p ≤ 0.05).

Results: Based on the results of a quantitative analysis of normalized mean estimates of psychosocial factors of the work environment, we revealed significant differences between the groups of “low, “normal” and “high” levels of GPs’ job satisfaction (p < 0.0001) and compiled a list of 12 factors determining a high level of job dissatisfaction.

Study limitation: The survey was conducted among the general practitioners of outpatient departments of Moscow hospitals.

Conclusions: Based on the use of additional statistical methods for normalizing the mean values of the estimated survey results and ranking them by degree of significance, a methodological approach to the analysis of risk factors of the occupational environment in medical organizations is proposed that helps obtain reliable levels in terms of job satisfaction compliant with literature data. The approved methodology is recommended for quality control of medical services in healthcare.

1. Kumar S, Sarwal R. Closing human resources gap in health: Moving beyond production to proactive recruitments. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022;11(8):4190-4194. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2463_21

2. Ahn C, Rundall TG, Shortell SM, Blodgett JC, Reponen E. Lean management and breakthrough performance improvement in health care. Qual Manag Health Care. 2021;30(1):6-12. doi: 10.1097/QMH.0000000000000282

3. Abdulrahman KB, Alnosian MY, Alshamrani AA, et al. Job satisfaction among family medicine physicians in Saudi Arabia. J Family Med Prim Care. 2021;10(8):29522957. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2476_20

4. Le Floch B, Bastiaens H, Le Reste JY, et al. Job satisfaction criteria to improve general practitioner recruitment: A Delphi consensus. Fam Pract. 2024;41(4):554-563. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmac140

5. Sanchez-Piedra CA, Jaruseviciene L, Prado-Galbarro FJ, et al. Factors associated with professional satisfaction in primary care: Results from EUprimecare project. Eur J Gen Pract. 2017;23(1):114-120. doi: 10.1080/13814788.2017.1305350

6. Kuznetsova MA, Vasilyeva TP, Tyranovets SV. International requirements for translation and cultural adaptation of the universal COPSOQ III questionnaire for workplace psychosocial risk assessment and health promotion in healthcare professionals. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2023;31(1):29-33. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/2219-5238/2023-31-1-29-33

7. Kuznetsova MA, Vasilyeva TP, Zudin AB, Gruzdeva OA, Kuznetsova KYu. Study of factors influencing psychosocial and professional characteristics of general practitioners (family doctors): Validation of the international questionnaire COPSOQ III (Long version). Zdravookhranenie Rossiyskoy Federatsii. 2024;68(4):315-322. (In Russ.) doi: 10.47470/0044-197X-2024-68-4-315-322

8. Kuznetsova MA, Zudin AB, Gorbacheva NA. Consequence analysis: Assessment of psychosocial risk factors for burnout in general practitioners as a predictor of patient dissatisfaction with health care in the post-pandemic era. Zdorov’e Naseleniya i Sreda Obitaniya. 2024;32(9):83-90. (In Russ.) doi: 10.35627/22195238/2024-32-9-83-90

9. Bektas G, Kiper F. Applications of lean in human resources management in healthcare. J Pak Med Assoc. 2022;72(3):532-536. doi: 10.47391/JPMA.1603

10. Halter M, Boiko O, Pelone F, et al. The determinants and consequences of adult nursing staff turnover: A systematic review of systematic reviews. BMC Health Serv Res. 2017;17(1):824. doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2707-0

11. Friedberg MW, Chen PG, Van Busum KR, et al. Factors affecting physician professional satisfaction and their implications for patient care, health systems, and health policy. Rand Health Q. 2014;3(4):1

12. Kronemann B, Joson-Teichert E, Michiels-Corsten M, Bösner S, Groth J. Missing topics for a newly established general practice curriculum for medical students in Hesse – a qualitative study. BMC Prim Care. 2024;25(1):306. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02533-y

13. Alele FO, Albert FA, Anderson E, et al. The perceived relevance, utility and retention of basic sciences in general practice. BMC Med Educ. 2024;24(1):809. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05750-2

14. Fogarty CT, Strayer SM, Lord RW Jr, Baltierra DA, Jame PA, Hoff T. Making the future of family medicine brighter by breaking it first… [Editorial] Ann Fam Med. 2024;22(4):358-360. doi: 10.1370/afm.3156

15. Winnifrith T, Millington-Sanders C, Husbands E, Haros J, Ballinger H. Proactive advance care planning conversations in general practice: A quality improvement project. BMJ Open Qual. 2024;13(3):e002679. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2023-002679

16. Kaleta FO, Kristensen CB, Duncan M, Crutchley P, Kerr P, Hirsch CR. Cognitive mechanisms and resilience in UK-based general practitioners: Cross-sectional findings. Occup Med (Lond). 2023;73(2):91-96. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqad016

17. Locke EA. The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In: Dunnette MD, ed. Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally; 1976:1297–1343.

18. Abdulrahman KB, Alnosian MY, Alshamrani AA, et al. Job satisfaction among family medicine physicians in Saudi Arabia. J Family Med Prim Care. 2021;10(8):2952-2957. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2476_20

19. Bimpong KAA, Khan A, Slight R, Tolley CL, Slight SP. Relationship between labour force satisfaction, wages and retention within the UK National Health Service: A systematic review of the literature. BMJ Open. 2020;10(7):e034919. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034919

20. Burney IA, Al Sabei SD, Al-Rawajfah O, Labrague LJ, AbuAlrub R. Determinants of physicians’ job satisfaction: A national multi-centre study from the Sultanate of Oman. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2023;23(2):198-205. doi: 10.18295/squmj.8.2022.050

21. Domagała A, Bała MM, Storman D, et al. Factors associated with satisfaction of hospital physicians: A systematic review on European data. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(11):2546. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15112546

22. Kibitov AA, Chumakov EM, Nechaeva AI, Sorokin MY, Petrova NN, Vetrova MV. Professional values and educational needs among mental health specialists in Russia: Survey results. Consort Psychiatr. 2022;3(3):36-45. doi: 10.17816/CP184

23. Khusheim LH. Leadership styles on job satisfaction and security among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technol Health Care. 2024;32(4):2211-2229. doi: 10.3233/THC-230945

24. Domagała A, Peña-Sánchez JN, Dubas-Jakóbczyk K. Satisfaction of physicians working in Polish hospitals – A cross-sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(12):2640. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15122640

25. Goetz K, Mahnkopf J, Kornitzky A, Steinhäuser J. Difficult medical encounters and job satisfaction: Results of a cross sectional study with general practitioners in Germany. BMC Fam Pract. 2018;19(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s12875-018-0747-0

26. Voltmer E, Rosta J, Köslich-Strumann S, Goetz K. Job satisfaction and work stress among physicians in Norway and Germany – A cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2024;19(1):e0296703. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296703

27. Deng Q, Liu Y, Cheng Z, Wang Q, Liu J. Global job satisfaction and fluctuation among community general practitioners: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024;24(1):378. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10792-9

28. Koch P, Zilezinski M, Schulte K, Strametz R, Nienhaus A, Raspe M. How perceived quality of care and job satisfaction are associated with intention to leave the profession in young nurses and physicians. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(8):2714. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17082714

29. Göbel J, Schmidt M, Seifried-Dübon T, et al. Higher work-privacy conflict and lower job satisfaction in GP leaders and practice assistants working full-time compared to part-time: Results of the IMPROVEjob Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(5):2618. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052618

30. Wagner A, Nübling M, Hammer A, Manser T, Rieger MA; WorkSafeMed Consortium. Comparing perceived psychosocial working conditions of nurses and physicians in two university hospitals in Germany with other German professionals – feasibility of scale conversion between two versions of the German Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). J Occup Med Toxicol. 2020;15:26. doi: 10.1186/s12995-020-00277-w

31. Akerstrom M, Sengpiel V, Hadžibajramović E, et al. The COPE Staff study: Study description and initial report regarding job satisfaction, work-life conflicts, stress, and burnout among Swedish maternal and neonatal healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2023;162(3):989-997. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.14772