Distress and job satisfaction among hospital physicians in internal medicine

How physicians within the specialty of internal medicine perceive their stress-related working conditions, especially due to a changing health system with an impact on workflows and working hours, is examined in this study. A total of 1696 online questionnaires completed by internists were analyzed. The questionnaire was based upon the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model by Siegrist et al. and the Job-Demand-Control model (JDC) by Karasek et al. Working conditions in the specialty of internal medicine seem to have a high risk of leading to distress. As a result 62.1 % [95 % confidence interval (CI): 59.8-64.5] of the respondents described working conditions with unfavorable stress (distress). Analyzing the distress prevalence in subgroups, there were significant differences between gender (65.9 % of female physicians and 58.6 % of male physicians; p = 0.002; odds ratio (OR): 1.37; 95 % CI: 1.12-1.66), age (69.3 % of under 35-year-old to 56.6 % of 35- to 59-year-old), and functional position (38.3 % of chief physician to 69.1 % of junior physicians; OR: 7.17; 95 % CI: 3.91-13.16). Regarding job satisfaction 48.1 % of respondents said, they were very satisfied with their job. This study should be a cause for concern, since current data suggest a future shortage of qualified employers in the specialty of internal medicine. Taking this into account, working conditions in hospitals should be improved in order to bind current employees and attract new employees.