Investigation of career anchor of the graduates of GP vocational training program

Abstract

Objective To understand the status quo of work satisfaction of the graduates of GP vocational training program by Zhongshan hospital Fudan university, to provide bases for making best GP career development strategy by health authorities. Methods Using short form of the career orientation inventory to conduct career investigation of the 152 graduates of GP vocational training program by Zhongshan hospital, Fudan university.152 questionnaires were issued and the effective response rate was 100%. Results The top of GPs' career anchor is job security orientation(106, 69.7%), followed by technical competence(28, 18.4%), service(8, 5.3%), managerial(5, 3.3%), autonomy(3, 1.9%), lifestyle(1, 0.7%), entrepreneurship(1, 0.7%), pure challenge(0, 0)and geographic security orientation(0, 0). We found that for male GPs, they displayed higher score for entrepreneurship orientation than female GPs(t=2.775, P=0.006). Those older than 35 displayed higher score for geographic security orientation than those younger than 35(t=-2.154, P=0.033). GPs with at least 10 years' work experience displayed higher score for geographic security orientation than those with less than 10 years' work experience(t=-2.414, P=0.017). The distribution of all types of career orientations of GPs was the same no matter how different their degrees and professional titles were. Conclusions Job security orientation and technical competence are the major job orientations of GP vocational training program by Zhongshan hospital, some career anchor orientations are related to age, gender and duration of work experience. Effective career management should be conducted based on these characters of the graduates' career orientation. Key words: Inservice training; General practitioner; Career anchor