Coffee consumption and work satisfaction among Scandinavian anaesthesiologists: A survey

It is a common prejudice that anaesthetic doctors are believed to have high coffee consumption. In this study, we aimed to assess the association between coffee drinking and work satisfaction among Scandinavian anaesthesiologists. We hypothesised that coffee consumption was positively correlated with work satisfaction.

We invited anaesthesiologists attending the 34th congress of The Scandinavian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine in Malmö, Sweden, September 2017 to participate in a paper-based survey. We collected data on characteristics of the respondents, coffee drinking and work satisfaction, and compared coffee vs non-coffee drinkers with regard to work satisfaction scored on a modified Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (Visual Analogue Scale from 0 to 10).

A total of 271 anaesthesiologists participated in the survey, of which 265 (97.7%) of the questionnaires contained valid data. Some 143 (54.0%) of the respondents were women, the median (interquartile range, IQR) age was 41.0 (35.0-49.5) years, and 242 (91.3%) were coffee drinkers. Coffee drinkers consumed median 4.0 (IQR: 2.5-5.0) cups of coffee daily. Overall work satisfaction was median 8 (IQR: 8-9), with no difference between respondents drinking coffee and those who did not (median 8 (IQR: 8-9) vs 8 (IQR: 8-9), Wilcoxon rank sum test, P = 0.62). Also, we found no association between work satisfaction and the number of cups of coffee consumed daily (r²  = 0.005, P = 0.24).

In this survey, we found high work satisfaction among Scandinavian anaesthesiologists, with no difference between coffee and non-coffee drinkers.