Originally posted by ParisHilton
I totally disagree. Many physicians are working ONLY for the money. They would leave the profession in a heartbeat if they could find a job that paid them a similar amount.
There's no doubt that financial incentives are a big draw to medicine. However, it's never as simple as you stated. There are many factors involved, and money is not the
"only" reason.
Consider the recent article published in JAMA recently:
The most important factors for physician satisfaction were:
"changes in measures of clinical autonomy, including increases in hours worked and physicians' ability to obtain services for their patients".
The authors also stress that declining incomes had less to do with physician satisfaction than the above reason.
Clearly, we all must make enough money to live comfortably and send our kids to college; but, no amount of money in the world will make me satisfied if I'm not doing what I love. For me, money has never been the most important factor for pursuing a medical career. The money is only icing on the cake.
P.S. It's too bad you didn't have me around when you gave sign-out rounds. I'm one of the few who enjoy taking call because that's when I see the most interesting things.
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Changes in Career Satisfaction Among Primary Care and Specialist Physicians, 1997-2001
Bruce E. Landon, MD, MBA; James Reschovsky, PhD; David Blumenthal, MD, MPP
JAMA. 2003;289:442-449.
Context A number of forces have changed the practice of medicine in the past decade. Evidence suggests that physicians are becoming less satisfied in this environment.
Objectives To describe changes in career satisfaction in a large, nationally representative sample of physicians and to examine market and practice factors associated with changes in physician satisfaction.
Design and Setting Data were collected from the first 3 rounds of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Physician Survey, a series of nationally representative telephone surveys of physicians in 60 US sites conducted in 1996-1997 (round 1: 12 385 respondents; 65% response rate), 1998-1999 (round 2: 12 280 respondents; 61% response rate), and 2000-2001 (round 3: 12 389 respondents; 59% response rate) for the Center for Studying Health System Change. The second and third rounds of the survey included physicians sampled in the previous round, as well as new physicians.
Participants Primary care and specialist physicians who spent at least 20 hours per week in direct patient care activities.
Main Outcome Measures Changes in physicians' overall satisfaction with their career and the proportion of dissatisfied physicians in particular sites.
Results Physician satisfaction levels declined marginally between 1997 and 2001, with most of the decline occurring between 1997 and 1999. Among primary care physicians, 42.4% were very satisfied in 1997, as were 43.3% of specialists, compared with 38.5% and 41.4%, respectively, in 2001. There were nearly equal increases in those who reported that they were somewhat satisfied. Overall means mask significant differences across the 60 sites. Among 12 sites randomly selected for more intensive study, the proportion of respondents who were somewhat or very dissatisfied ranged from 8.8% of physicians in Lansing, Mich (1999), to 34.2% in Miami, Fla (1997). Between 1997 and 1999, 25.6% of primary care physicians reported decreased satisfaction and 18.1% reported improved satisfaction, while approximately equal percentages reported increased (19.8%) and decreased (20.4%) satisfaction between 1999-2001. Findings were similar for specialist physicians. In multivariable models, the strongest and most consistent predictors of change in satisfaction were changes in measures of clinical autonomy, including increases in hours worked and physicians' ability to obtain services for their patients. Changes in exposure to managed care were weakly related to changes in satisfaction.
Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that overall physician satisfaction levels over this time period did not change dramatically. In addition, satisfaction and changes in satisfaction vary greatly among sites. Rather than declining income, threats to physicians' autonomy, to their ability to manage their day-to-day patient interactions and their time, and to their ability to provide high-quality care are most strongly associated with changes in satisfaction.
