TY - JOUR
T1 - Job Characteristics Affecting Japanese Surgeons’ Satisfaction Levels
AU - Kameyama, Noriaki
AU - Nagai, Hirohisa
AU - Ikoma, Naruhiko
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Laura Russell in The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Research Medical Library for her editing assistance. Author contributions: N.K. contributed to conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and original writing of the article. H.N. and N.I. contributed to analysis and interpretation, writing the article, and critical revision of the article. Funding: None.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Background: The number of medical graduates choosing surgical careers has been declining rapidly in Japan, likely because of surgeons' notoriously stressful working environments and inadequate compensation. We hypothesized that surgeons, in comparison to those in other specialties, have distinct perceptions of their job. To better understand the reasons for the decline in the number of surgeons, we conducted an email-based survey to characterize surgeons' and physicians’ job perceptions. Materials and methods: The study population, recruited via emailed invitations, completed a questionnaire primarily modeled after the Hackman and Oldham multidimensional tool. The survey contained seven dimensions: task significance, dealing with others, feedback from the job, autonomy, skill variety, task identity, and ethics. The response rate was 29.4%. Results were compared across specialty groups (surgery, internal medicine, and others) and—among surgeons—by hospital setting (university hospitals versus community hospitals). Results: Responses from 415 Japanese physicians were included in this study. The mean scores for ethics, task significance, and dealing with others, and feedback from the job were significantly higher in the surgery group than in the internal medicine and other specialty groups (P < 0.05). In contrast, the mean score for autonomy was lower in the surgery group than in the other groups, and the autonomy score was significantly lower in the university hospital surgery group than in the community hospital surgery group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: There are clear differences in job perception between surgeons and other physicians, particularly in regard to ethics, task significance, dealing with others, and feedback from the job. Improvement of surgeons' working environments is an imminent need to avoid surgeons’ burnout and mitigate the decline in the number of new surgical trainees in Japan.
AB - Background: The number of medical graduates choosing surgical careers has been declining rapidly in Japan, likely because of surgeons' notoriously stressful working environments and inadequate compensation. We hypothesized that surgeons, in comparison to those in other specialties, have distinct perceptions of their job. To better understand the reasons for the decline in the number of surgeons, we conducted an email-based survey to characterize surgeons' and physicians’ job perceptions. Materials and methods: The study population, recruited via emailed invitations, completed a questionnaire primarily modeled after the Hackman and Oldham multidimensional tool. The survey contained seven dimensions: task significance, dealing with others, feedback from the job, autonomy, skill variety, task identity, and ethics. The response rate was 29.4%. Results were compared across specialty groups (surgery, internal medicine, and others) and—among surgeons—by hospital setting (university hospitals versus community hospitals). Results: Responses from 415 Japanese physicians were included in this study. The mean scores for ethics, task significance, and dealing with others, and feedback from the job were significantly higher in the surgery group than in the internal medicine and other specialty groups (P < 0.05). In contrast, the mean score for autonomy was lower in the surgery group than in the other groups, and the autonomy score was significantly lower in the university hospital surgery group than in the community hospital surgery group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: There are clear differences in job perception between surgeons and other physicians, particularly in regard to ethics, task significance, dealing with others, and feedback from the job. Improvement of surgeons' working environments is an imminent need to avoid surgeons’ burnout and mitigate the decline in the number of new surgical trainees in Japan.
KW - Burnout
KW - Job characteristics
KW - Job satisfaction
KW - Surgeon
KW - Surgery
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jss.2020.11.032
DO - 10.1016/j.jss.2020.11.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 33279220
AN - SCOPUS:85097106998
SN - 0022-4804
VL - 260
SP - 475
EP - 480
JO - Journal of Surgical Research
JF - Journal of Surgical Research
ER -