Determinants of emergency physician wellness in Belgium

Abstract

Objectives This cross‐sectional study examines first whether emergency physicians differ from a comparison group of surgeons, more specifically general surgeons and orthopedic surgeons, in terms of job and organizational characteristics and second to what extent these characteristics are determinants of professional well‐being outcomes in emergency physicians. Methods Belgian emergency physicians (n = 346) were invited to participate in this study. Forty‐three percent of the eligible participants completed a questionnaire. The survey instrument contained 48 questions on determinants (personal characteristics, job conditions [Job Demand Control Support], organizational and environmental work conditions) as well as 39 questions on outcomes (job satisfaction, turnover intention, subjective fatigue, psychological distress, work–home interference, work engagement) by means of the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire for Medical Doctors, the Checklist Individual Strength, the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the association between the determinants and each of the outcomes. Results Emergency physicians reported higher job demands, lower job control, and less adequate work conditions compared with the group of surgeons. High job demands increased turnover intention, subjective fatigue, psychological distress, work–home interference in emergency physicians, but lack of job control, lack of social support from the supervisor, and inadequate communication also contributed in an unfavorable way to some of these outcomes. Conclusion Emergency medicine departments must reduce the constant exposure to high job demands by allowing emergency physicians to have enough time for both physical and mental recovery. Work motivation and work conditions might be improved by increasing job control over job demands by giving emergency physicians more decision latitude and autonomy, improving good communication and teamwork and adequate social support from the supervisor and providing good material resources. These interventions can improve professional well‐being outcomes in emergency physicians.

Team, Career, and Management: Mental Maps of Working Conditions and Intention to Stay of Physicians in Academic Medicine

“…Various research found that the social climate was a factor favoring the nurses' and physicians' intentions to stay with their employer, (Heponiemi et al, 2019;Martinussen et al, 2020;Nikkhah-Farkhani and Piotrowski, 2020) while the leadership style had a delicate influence on the physicians' intentions to leave. (Stagnitti et al, 2006;Suliman, 2009;Halter et al, 2017;Fontes et al, 2019;Pishgooie et al, 2019;Labrague et al, 2020;Lee and Jang, 2020;Magbity et al, 2020;Martinussen et al, 2020) Negative feelings when experiencing discrimination (Heponiemi et al, 2019), bullying (Adriaenssens et al, 2015;Edmonson and Zelonka, 2019;Park and Choi, 2019;Favaro et al, 2021), conflict with peers (Zaheer et al, 2019;Bautista et al, 2020;Lee and Kim, 2020), high workloads (Perkins et al, 2007;Bautista et al, 2020;Lee and Kim, 2020), understaffing (Sasso et al, 2019), emotional exhaustion (Hoonakker et al, 2013;Vandenbroeck et al, 2017;Sasso et al, 2019), long working shifts (Dall'Ora et al, 2015;Arslan Yürümezoğlu et al, 2019) and stress (Hoonakker et al, 2013;Halter et al, 2017;Lee and Jang, 2020;Somville et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2021) also push physicians' and nurses' intentions towards leaving their job behind. Further factors that previously affected the physicians' and nurses' job satisfaction also influence their intention to stay: fair pay…”

Individual perspectives and mental maps of working conditions and intention to stay of physicians in academic medicine

“…Leadership style had a decisive influence on physicians' intentions to stay or to leave (Stagnitti et al, 2006;Suliman, 2009;Halter et al, 2017;Fontes et al, 2019;Pishgooie et al, 2019;Labrague et al, 2020;Lee and Jang, 2020;Magbity et al, 2020;Martinussen et al, 2020). Other factors pushing physicians' and nurses' intentions toward leaving their job were: Negative feelings when experiencing discrimination (Heponiemi et al, 2019), bullying (Adriaenssens et al, 2015;Edmonson and Zelonka, 2019;Park and Choi, 2019;Favaro et al, 2021), conflict with peers (Zaheer et al, 2019;Bautista et al, 2020;Lee and Kim, 2020), high workloads (Perkins et al, 2007;Bautista et al, 2020;Lee and Kim, 2020), understaffing (Sasso et al, 2019), emotional exhaustion (Hoonakker et al, 2013;Vandenbroeck et al, 2017;Sasso et al, 2019), long working shifts (Dall'Ora et al, 2015;Arslan Yürümezoglu et al, 2019), and high stress (Hoonakker et al, 2013;Halter et al, 2017;Lee and Jang, 2020;Somville et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2021). Several factors affecting job satisfaction also influence physicians' and nurses' intention to stay: Fair pay 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1106501 (Kao et al, 2018), freedom to do the job (Barken et al, 2018), job autonomy (Stagnitti et al, 2006;Barken et al, 2018), and recognition …”

Corrigendum

“…In, 1 the author wants to correct the authorship in the published article. The authorship should read:…”