Factors associated with Australian and New Zealand oncologists' future work preferences

To understand the factors associated with oncologists' work preferences to help future workforce planning.

In May 2008 a questionnaire was e-mailed to members of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia, Fellowship of Radiation Oncologists and the New Zealand Association of Cancer Specialists. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to determine if gender, age, specialist status or specialty were associated with the intention to work full time or part time or consider weekend or evening work, and with the level of satisfaction with current working hours.

In total, 205 medical and radiation oncologists and trainees responded. Overall 77 (38%) oncologists intended to work part time. There was strong evidence (P<0.0001) that women were more likely than men to want to work part time (OR 4.18, 95% CI, 2.12-8.22). Overall 52% of oncologists were not prepared to work on weekends. Women were less willing to consider working on weekends than men (P=0.02, OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26-0.89). A total of 58% of oncologists felt they were working more than their ideal working hours. There was evidence (P<0.0001) that this was independently associated with oncology specialty; medical oncologists had twice the odds of feeling dissatisfied with their working hours compared with radiation oncologists (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.20-3.94).

Female gender was the most important factor associated with wanting to work part time. This should be considered when planning the oncology workforce, particularly because an increasing number of oncologists are women.