Hospitalists Report Relatively High Job Satisfaction
Of the hospitalists who responded to SHM’s Hospitalist Career Satisfaction Survey, 35% were women (with a mean age of 44) and 50% have been hospitalists for more than seven years. Most respondents worked full time.
Results
- The mean job satisfaction of hospitalists was 3.96 on a 5-point scale.
- Career satisfaction among respondents was a mean of 4.09 on a 5-point scale.
- Pediatric hospitalists are happier than adult hospitalists.
- Things that make hospitalists happy are the quality of the care they provide and the relationships they have with staff, colleagues, patients, and leaders.
- Hospitalists are least satisfied with organizational fairness, personal time, compensation, and autonomy.
- 30% of respondents experienced burnout, and almost half of them say they are likely to leave their jobs in the next two years.
Independent Predictors for Job Satisfaction
- Organizational climate
- Satisfaction with care quality
- Personal time
- Relationship with leader
- Compensation
Overall, U.S. hospitalists report a relatively high degree of job and career satisfaction. But, high burnout levels threaten programs due to job turnover or intent to decrease the amount of clinical work.
The session presenters recommended that we need to address hospitalist burnout and dissatisfaction if we are going to stop the leak out of hospital medicine.
Dr. George is regional medical director/VP of operations, West Cogent Healthcare, South Barrington, Ill.
