Job satisfaction among doctors, a multi-faceted subject studied at a tertiary care hospital in Lahore

OBJECTIVE To study the level of job satisfaction among doctors serving in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore and ascertain its co-relation with multiple demographic variables which had a profound impact. METHODS This cross sectional study with non-probability purposive sampling was conducted at Combined Military Hospital, Lahore, from February 2014 to November 2014. Subjects were doctors serving in that hospital for minimum six months duration. Pre-formed questionnaires were distributed to volunteers (average filling time was 3 ½ to 7 minutes). Multiple demographic features were independent variables. Outcome variable was job satisfaction. Statistical analysis was done via descriptive statistics (SPSS 20), data expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). RESULTS Out of 263 doctors serving in hospital, 203 (77.91%) volunteered to participate; response rate by depositing the filled forms was 47.78% (97 doctors). Amongst the respondents, 10 (10.3%) doctors had below average job satisfaction, 32(33.0%), 21(21.6%), 21(21.6%) and 13(13.3%) had average, above average, well above average and outstanding job satisfaction respectively. There was significant relation between job satisfaction and age group of the doctors (p 0.025), education (p 0.015), service years (p 0.013) income per month (p<0.001). There was no significant impact of gender (p 0.540), marital status (p 0.087), number of children (p 0.153), current employment (p 0.71), nature of job (p 0.204), working hours (p 0.089), additional duties p 0.421) and socioeconomic class (p 0.104) on outcome variable. CONCLUSION A significant number of doctors was found discontented with their job, which may consequently impact their yield/performance. The job satisfaction can be substantially improved if these contributory factors are aptly addressed at all tiers.