Nearly 20 Percent of Physicians Unhappy With Career

About one in five US physicians are dissatisfied with their career, but this figure varies by specialty and geographic location, recent study findings indicate.

For example, physicians practicing geriatric internal medicine, neonatal-perinatal medicine or pediatrics, and dermatology reported high levels of career satisfaction.

Less satisfied with their career were doctors specializing in otolaryngology, obstetrics-gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics and internal medicine.

Physicians practicing in New England or in west north Central states, such as Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas, were more satisfied than those in other parts of the country, according to the report published in the July 22nd issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In the study, Dr. J. Paul Leigh, from the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care in Sacramento, California, and colleagues analyzed data from an ongoing survey of nearly 12,500 physicians from 33 different specialties

Overall, 7 out of every 10 physicians surveyed said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their medical career, but nearly 20% of the respondents said they were dissatisfied.

The relatively high dissatisfaction among obstetrician/gynecologists may be “related to rising expectations for perfect birth outcomes and high medicolegal risks,” the researchers speculate. Dermatology, in contrast, has frequently been considered one of the most attractive specialties because of its “controllable lifestyle” and “relatively narrow focus,” according to the report.

“A high percentage of young physicians are very satisfied and an even higher percentage of physicians aged 65 and older report being very satisfied,” the authors state. “This may be owing to the enthusiasm and idealism of youth and self-selection among the elderly. Physicians who do not retire by age 65 years probably derive considerable satisfaction from their jobs.”

Physicians who reported working many hours were less likely to be satisfied with their job, while those who reported a high income–$250,000 to $299,999–were more likely to say they were very satisfied with their career, the findings indicate.

Arch Intern Med 2002;162:1577-1584.