[Job satisfaction of general practitioners]

In Germany there is a lack of general practitioners (GP) that is forecasted to grow. Against this background a study of job satisfaction is of major interest. The purpose of this study was to analyse the job satisfaction of German GPs.

The study is based on data from an observational study in 676 primary care physicians in Germany between 2004 and 2007 taking part in the European Practice Assessment (EPA). The evaluation of job satisfaction was one part of EPA. Job satisfaction was measured with the 10-item Warr-Cook-Wall (WCW) scale. The possible answers ranged from 1 (extreme dissatisfaction) to 7 (extreme satisfaction). Furthermore the characteristics of GPs (gender, age, working hours) were analysed.

Overall from the 676 primary care physicians 523 were GPs and took part in the survey. Job satisfaction was low by "income", "hours of work" and "mental working condition". A high degree of satisfaction was reported for "colleagues and fellow workers". Mainly working hours had a significant influence of job satisfaction followed by age and gender.

Overall, the results show good values of satisfaction with job situation. However there is space for improvement within the field of payment and working condition. Against this background of the lack of GPs it is important to consider these aspects of job satisfaction for GPs.