Emergency medicine as a growing career in Iran: an Internet-based survey

Abstract

BACKGROUND:In Iran, few studies have evaluated emergency medicine as a career option. In the present study, we aimed to find out how Iranian emergency-medicine specialists view their specialty as a career. METHODS:Following a qualitative study, a Likert-scale questionnaire was developed. Iranian emergency physician specialists who had at least two years' job experience were contacted via email. A uniform link to a Web-based survey and a cover letter that explained the survey were sent to the recipients. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc analysis to determine the differences between demographic subgroups. RESULTS:A total of 109 eligible responses were received, a response rate of 72.63%. Of the responders, 57.8% were 30-40 years of age, 86.2% were male, 86.2% were single, 84.4% were faculty members and 90.8% had fewer than 10 years' job experience. The main problems occurring during the career of Iranian emergency physicians were: insuffi cient income, inadequate recognition of the specialty by the community, inadequate union support, insecurity in the emergency wards, overcrowding, job stresses and night shifts. Despite insufficiency of income, Iranian emergency physicians (EPs) did not care about the financial benefits of patient care. Academic activity had positive effects on the perspectives of Iranian emergency physicians regarding their careers. CONCLUSION:Iranian emergency physicians and leaders in emergency medicine should struggle to improve the present situation, aiming at an ideal state.

Burnout among female emergency medicine physicians: A nationwide study

“…9 Based on a study by Farahmand et al on the viewpoint of Iranian EP about their specialty, the three main weaknesses of a career in EM were: insufficiency of income, insecurity in the workplace and inadequate recognition and support. 18 These findings are in close agreement with ours. Besides, delay in payments (sometimes near to 1 year delay) especially in recent years, made the physicians working in government hospitals feel dissatisfied and abused.…”

“…Based on a study by Farahmand et al . on the viewpoint of Iranian EP about their specialty, the three main weaknesses of a career in EM were: insufficiency of income, insecurity in the workplace and inadequate recognition and support . These findings are in close agreement with ours.…”

“…But the resources and inpatient beds are limited and consequently, the ED are almost always overcrowded. 18 These features are to some extent similar to other developing countries in Asia, as described by Pek et al 17 EE is considered as the key subscale of burnout and the first component developing in the process of this syndrome. 19 One possible explanation for the high level of EE in our study may be that female physicians are more psychologically vulnerable.…”

“…Most people consider the ED of academic hospitals as the only way to access rapid, high‐quality medical care at the lowest price. But the resources and inpatient beds are limited and consequently, the ED are almost always overcrowded . These features are to some extent similar to other developing countries in Asia, as described by Pek et al …”

Status, role, and performance of emergency medicine specialists in Iran: A qualitative study

“…This approach uses inductive coding to identify categories (codes) and patterns (themes) in the data. [ 11 12 ] Initially, transcriptions were read and reread; and then codes, subthemes, and themes were extracted manually from the raw data. Five themes and three subthemes emerged from analysis, as shown in Table 2 , were incorporated in the final analysis and it helped to ensure that the findings were congruent with participants' perceptions, beliefs, and opinions.…”