Abstract
BackgroundPhysician turnover is a concern in many health care systems globally. A better understanding of physicians’ reasons for leaving their job may inform organisational policies to retain key personnel. The aim of this study was to investigate hospital physicians’ intention to leave their current job, and to investigate if such intentions are associated with how physicians assess their leaders and the organisational context.MethodsData was derived from a survey of 971 physicians working in public hospitals in Norway in 2016. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis.ResultsWe found that 21.0% of all hospital physicians expressed an intention to leave their current job for another job. An additional 20.3% of physicians had not made up their mind whether to stay or leave. Physicians’ perceptions of their leaders and the organisational context influence their intention to leave their hospital. Respondents who perceived their leaders as professional-supportive had a significantly lower probability of reporting an intention to leave their job. The analysis suggests that organisational context, such as department mergers, weigh in on physicians’ considerations about leaving their current job. Social climate and commitment are important reasons why physician stay.ConclusionsA professional-supportive leadership style may have a positive influence on retention of physicians in public hospitals. Further research should investigate how retention of physicians is associated with performance related to organisational and leadership style.
Highlights
Physician turnover is a concern in many health care systems globally
Loosing well-performing physicians is costly for hospitals, and physician turnover is a critical issue in health care systems globally [1,2,3,4]
Out of 953 physicians who responded to the item “Are you currently having plans or wishes to leave this hospital in order to go to another workplace?”, 21.0% (N = 200) reported an intention to leave their current job, 58.8% (N = 560) responded “no”, while 20.3% (N = 193) reported no such plans or did not know
Summary
Physician turnover is a concern in many health care systems globally. A better understanding of physicians’ reasons for leaving their job may inform organisational policies to retain key personnel. A better understanding of physicians’ reasons for leaving their job may Martinussen et al BMC Health Services Research (2020) 20:400 level of flexibility and autonomy, and expected workload [6,7,8,9,10]. There is a gap in the literature on how leadership and the organisational context influence physicians’ intention to leave their current job. This may appear somewhat paradoxical, given the increasing focus on management and organisational change in healthcare. It is important to investigate how changes in leadership styles and new organisational structures are related to hospital physicians’ intention to leave their job
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