A study on the current state of public health doctors

Article information

J Korean Med Assoc. 2012;55(1):56-73

Publication date (electronic) : 2012 January 11

doi : https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2012.55.1.56

Kyung Hwa Seo, MBA ¹, Sun Mi Lim, PhD ¹, Kwang Sun Park, MD ², Dong Hune Key, MD ², Yoon Hyung Park, MD ¹^,³

¹Research Institute of Healthcare Policy, Korean Medical Association, Seoul, Korea.

²Korean Association of Public Health Doctor, Seoul, Korea.

³Department of Preventive Medicine, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Yoon Hyung Park, parky@sch.ac.kr

Received 2011 December 15; Accepted 2011 December 25.

Abstract

As the healthcare environment has changed both socially and politically importance of public health doctors' roles has increased and ongoing revision of their roles is also needed in Korea. However, many problems have decreased the job satisfaction of public health doctors. This study aims to determine the factors that influence public health doctors' satisfaction. The survey was conducted over the course of 2 months by questionnaire methodology. A total of 881 respondents (response rate, 90.1%) participated and 778 valid responses were analyzed using SAS version 9.1. Items about arranged organization, work task, employee welfare and services, education, public health doctor's system, and the role of public health doctors were included in the questionnaire. It was found that the satisfaction of many respondents was not high and they had negative perceptions of arranged organization, work, environment, employee welfare and services, education, system, and their own role. Although the public health doctors have professional knowledge of healthcare, they were not satisfied with their role because they were required to do inappropriate work, improperly arranged and found performing work difficult when treated unfairly or not paid fairly. Therefore, policies focused on financial compensation or system improvement must be established to increase the satisfaction of public health doctors. This study's limitation was that the survey was done through two modalities. However, it is meaningful that issues related to the public health doctors were dealt with more comprehen-sively in this study than other studies.

Keywords: Public health doctor; Job satisfaction; Public health doctor's system

References

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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1

The elements required to work. 1. Specialty knowledge. 2. Experience of and knowledge about performing health services. 3. Personal relations. 4. Administrative experiences and knowledge. 5. No other skills or knowledge required. 6. Other. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Figure 2

Institutional measure for improvement of satisfaction. 1. Financial compensation. 2. Empowerment and reinforcement of autonomy. 3. Expansion of medical facilities. 4. Deregulation related to public health doctors. 5. Education/research support. 6. Reduction of number of tasks. 7. Others. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Figure 3

Satisfaction on the specific details of salary. 1. The level of pay is reasonable for the performance expected. 2. It is proper relative to other related work like public-service advocates. 3. I'm satisfied overall with current pay level. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis. Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Figure 4

Satisfaction on the specific details of bonuses. 1. The level of pay is reasonable for the performance expected. 2. I'm satisfied overall with current bonus level. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis. Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Figure 5

Area for improvement among the public health doctor's system. 1. Working conditions (salary, bonuses, status etc.). 2. Selection and arrangement related matters. 3. Breaks from a treatment-oriented role: shift to the role focused on health service of research. 4. Improvement of working conditions. 5. Issues about service regulation of public health doctor. 6. Educational program. 7. Other. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Figure 6

Challenges public health doctors face. 1. Lack of pay and unfair treatment. 2. Lack of clinical knowledge and skills. 3. Lack of experience and knowledge in health service. 4. Conflict with other workers. 5. Medical malpractice. 6. Conflict with the local residents. 7. Excessive workload. 8. Conflict with other public health doctors. 9. None. 10. Other. The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Figure 7

Factors related to job satisfaction.

Table 1

Respondents' characteristics

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Table 2

Appropriateness of the number of public health doctors assigned to public health-related organizaions

Unit: n (%), score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 3

Appropriateness of arrangement by organization

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 4

Nature of current work

Unit: n (%).

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

^a)First-aid Counseling & Hospital Transfer Service conducted by the 1339 Emergency Medical Service Information Center.

^b)Dispatched medical service at other organizations including a mobile clinic unit.

^c)Family health programs for health management of infants & pregnant women, and health promotion program for non-smoking/obesity/temperance, mental health program, etc.

Table 5

Validity of public health doctors' work

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 6

The length of working time

Unit: n (%), hour.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Table 7

The number of patients treated per 1 week

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

SD, standard deviation.

Table 8

The perception of the work itself

Unit: score.

1. It's boring and get me fed up. 2. It makes me frustrated. 3. There is no specific difference whether doing hard on it or doing sloppily. 4. It gives me stress. 5. It requires a lot of time in clerical (administrative) transactions. 6. It's pleasant and rewarding. 7. It gives me an intellectual stimulus and a sense of achievement. 8. It's a acknowledged and socially respected job. 9. It affords a lot of opportunity to display one's own ability. 10. It gives a lot of opportunity to acquire new knowledges or techniques.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 9

The perception of the work environment

Unit: score.

1. There is sufficient time for business activities. 2. There is a sufficient space for business activities. 3. There is a sufficient workforce for business activities. 4. Immediately after I was assigned to an organization, I received the education & orientation from the relevant organization. 5. Working conditions such as noise, lighting, and indoor temperature are pleasant. 6. The opinions suggested by public health doctors are nicely embraced by the arranged organization. 7. Medical appliances or medical equipment are sufficient enough to do medical service.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 10

Relationship and experience of conflict between public health doctors' arranged organization and private health care institution

Unit: n (%), score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 11

Satisfaction comcerning working conditions (employee welfare and services)

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 12

Availability of and satisfaction with official residence

Unit: n (%), score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure the satisfaction.

Table 13

Availability of and usefulness of job training program

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 14

Satisfaction with job training program

Unit: score.

1. Appropriateness of period of time for education. 2. Suitability of educational purpose and contents. 3. Educational environment (lecture room etc.). 4. Educational contents. 5. Length of training period and lecture time. 6. Accessibility of the educational facility. 7. Room and board during education.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 15

Necessity for public health doctor' system change

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.

Table 16

Public health doctors' awareness of their own role

Unit: score.

The cases not answered in questions are rejected in analysis.

The standard deviation is given in parentheses.

Likert 5-point scale is used to measure.