Abstract
Objective: To study the socio-demographic characteristics, the working environment, and the level of career satisfaction among psychiatry residents in China.Method: This was a part of a large-scale, nation-wide online survey of hospitals, healthcare professionals, and patients. Data, including socio-demographics, work hours, income, job satisfaction, and intention to quit were collected anonymously. Respondents also completed the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ).Results: One thousand sixty residents nested in 32 psychiatric hospitals in 29 provinces in China completed the survey. Respondents were predominantly female (69.0%), worked an average of 47.8 ± 11.6 h per week, and 28.97% had experienced medical disputes in the previous year. The top three reported reasons for dissatisfaction were low pay (50.1%), contentious doctor-patient relationships (17.6%), and high workload (10.8%). An intention to quit their current job was reported by 18.7% of residents. The overall mean MSQ score was 73.8 ± 13.8, with significant differences across post-graduate training years and regions. A multilevel regression analysis found that a higher MSQ score was significantly associated with fewer years in residency, shorter work hours, higher monthly pay, having medical liability insurance, and feeling satisfied with the level of doctor-nurse cooperation, their hospitals' medical disputes prevention/management, and the healthcare workers' social environment.Conclusion: Psychiatry residents in China are predominantly female and well-educated. They are only moderately satisfied with their career. Poor salaries, contentious doctor-patient relationships and high workload are among their top complaints and may explain why a considerable proportion are intending to leave their current residency. More support from the government regarding residents' salaries, workload and working environment may help improve their job satisfaction and retention, ensuring that China will have a pool of well-trained and engaged psychiatrists for the future.
Highlights
Despite a progress in recent years, the number of psychiatrists in China is still very limited and unevenly distributed throughout the country [1]
Significant differences in satisfaction with this process were observed among the various regions with Northeast China having the highest rate of satisfied residents (69.5%), followed by Central China (53.6%), East China (53.6%), and West China (46.7%, p = 0.003)
The results of fixed effects are shown in Table 3: fewer years of work, shorter work hours per week, higher monthly pay, having medical liability insurance, feeling satisfied with the level of cooperation between doctors and nurses, the hospitals’ prevention/management of medical disputes, and the social environment for healthcare workers, were all significantly associated with higher job satisfaction. This is the first nationwide survey focusing on the sociodemographic features, job satisfaction, and other related factors pertaining to psychiatry residents in China
Summary
Despite a progress in recent years, the number of psychiatrists in China is still very limited and unevenly distributed throughout the country [1]. These numbers were much lower [2]. It is important to attract medical students to the field and learn more about those who have decided to pursue psychiatry residency training. As is true in the United States and elsewhere, residency training in China can be stressful [3,4,5,6]. A demanding workload, long work hours and other factors can cause burn-out and even dropout from residency programs [7]. Job satisfaction in residents, besides affecting the retention rate, may be associated with increased resident effectiveness and lower absenteeism [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
