Quality of work life of family physicians in Wisconsin's health care organizations: a WReN study

Abstract

Problem considered: Most family physicians in Wisconsin are employed by large health care organizations. Because of its impact on physician recruitment, retention, commitment to the organization, and patient care, the quality of physician work life is an important problem.

Methods: A survey was designed based on a literature review and augmented by focus group data. It was sent to all 1482 members of the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians in 2000.

Results: Overall response rate was 47%. Three hundred ninety-seven of the respondents were employed by 18 different health care organizations having 10 or more respondents. There were significant differences among Wisconsin's health care organizations in terms of physicians' satisfaction with their organization. There was a strong significant negative correlation between satisfaction with one's organization and turnover intention and a strong positive correlation between satisfaction with one's organization and ability to achieve one's professional goals. There were also significant, though less strong, correlations between satisfaction with one's organization and satisfaction with being a physician and perceived quality of care delivered.

Conclusions: Some of Wisconsin's health care organizations are doing better than others at working with their family physicians to maximize these physicians' satisfaction with the organization, reduce the likelihood of turnover, and enable them to reach their professional goals.