Abstract
An optimal learning climate is crucial for the quality of residency training and may also improve residents’ well-being and empathy. We investigated the associations of learning climate with residents’ work-related well-being. A multicenter questionnaire study was performed among 271 surgery and gynaecology residents in 21 training programs from September 2012 to February 2013. Residents were asked to complete work-related well-being measurements: work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), job and specialty satisfaction (measures from Physician Worklife Study), and physician empathy (Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy). The Dutch Residency Educational Climate Test was used to evaluate learning climate. Multivariate adjusted linear regression analyses were used to estimate associations of learning climate with work-related well-being measures. Well-being measures were completed by 144 residents (53.1%). Learning climate was evaluated by 193 residents, yielding 9.2 evaluations per training program on average. Overall learning climate score was positively associated with work engagement [regression coefficient b = 0.58; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18–0.98; p = 0.004] and job satisfaction (b = 0.80; 95% CI 0.48–1.13; p < 0.001). No associations were found between learning climate and empathy and specialty satisfaction. Residents’ work engagement and job satisfaction are positively related to the learning climate and may be further enhanced by improved learning climates of training programs.
Highlights
Physicians’ well-being is presumed to be a quality indicator for health care systems (Wallace et al 2009)
The learning climate of 21 residency training programs was evaluated by 193 residents with a mean of 9.2 residents’ evaluations per training program
The overall learning climate was positively associated with work engagement [regression coefficient b = 0.58; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18–0.98; p = 0.004] and with job satisfaction (b = 0.80; 95% CI 0.48–1.13; p < 0.001)
Summary
Physicians’ well-being is presumed to be a quality indicator for health care systems (Wallace et al 2009) This topic is receiving worldwide attention as research suggests that physicians are experiencing high work-related pressure. A lack of workrelated well-being or experiencing distress could lead to a decrease in physicians’ empathy (Ahrweiler et al 2014; Neumann et al 2007) This is unfortunate because decreased empathy will inhibit physicians’ ability to understand, communicate, and respond to patients’ perspectives and experiences, reducing patient satisfaction, compliance and safety (Kim et al 2004; West et al 2006; Neumann et al 2012; Mercer and Reynolds 2002; Hojat 2007; Hojat et al 2002b)
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