Primary care physician job satisfaction and turnover

Objective: To examine the relationship of personal characteristics, organiz ational characteristics, and overall job satisfaction to primary care physi cian (PCP) turnover. Subject and Methods: A cohort of 507 post resident, nonfederally employed P CPs younger than 45 years of age who completed their medical training betwe en 1982 and 1985, participated in national surveys in 1987 and 1991. Psycho logical, economic, and sociological theories and constructs provided a conc eptual framework. Primary care physician personal, organizational and overa ll job satisfaction variables from 1987 were considered independent variabl es. Turnover-related responses fron 1991 were dependent variables. Bivariat e and multivariate analyses were conducted. Results: More then half (55%) of all PCPs in th cohort left at least 1 prac tice between 1987 and 1991. Twenty percent of the cohort left 2 employers. PCPs dissatisfied in 1987 were 20.38 times more likely to leave (P < .001). Primary care physicians who believed that third-party payer influence woul d decrease in 5 years were 1.29 times more likely to leave (P < .003). Prim ary care physicians who believed that standardized protocols were overused were 1.18 times more likely to leave (P < 0.5). Specialty, gender, age, rac e, and practice setting were not associated with PCP turnover. Conclusion: Turnover was an important phenomenon among PCPs in this cohort. The results of this study would enable policy makers, managed care organiz ations, researchers, and others to better understand the relationship betwe en job satisfaction and turnover.