JOB SATISFACTION

AMONG DOCTORS WORKING IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS OF LAHORE

Abstract

Background: Doctor’s profession has been among one of the most attractive
profession in Pakistan Society, but doctors are getting increasingly dissatisfied with their jobs in
our region as unfortunately job satisfaction has still not received the proper consideration from
policy makers. Objectives: To determine the level of satisfaction with variousjob characteristics
and compare the characteristics of doctorswith level of job satisfaction among doctors working
in public and private sector teaching hospitals. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Period:
July 2014 to August 2014. Setting: Public sector (Jinnah Hospital Lahore) and a private sector
(Fatima Memorial Hospital) Lahore. Methods: A total of 308 medical officers, 154 from each
hospital were included through simple random sampling. They were interviewed regarding their
socio demographic and work related characteristics and satisfaction level regarding various
job characteristics, using a structured, pretested questionnaire. The job satisfaction was rated
on the basis of a three point liker scale with scores ranging from 1 – 33 and scores > 25
were considered as satisfied. All the data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17.0.
Results: Among the total study respondents, majority 212 (68.8%) doctor were dissatisfied with
their jobs while high level of satisfaction was seen only regarding timeliness of pay 92.9% and
job safety 98%.On comparing characteristics of doctors with job satisfaction, it was seen that
age, gender, marital status, number of family members, total family income, work experience
and nature of job was not significantly related with satisfaction while doctors working in private
hospital were more satisfied with their job as compared to doctors working in government
hospital and this result was statistically significant (P = 0.000) Conclusion: Satisfaction level
of doctors especially working in public hospitals was low as compared to doctors working in
private sector. There is need to address the reasons of dis-satisfaction and formulate strategies
to eliminate these issues.