Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 27, 2026
Optical Cross-Sectional Muscle Area Determination of Drosophila Melanogaster Adult Indirect Flight Muscles
Published on: March 31, 2018
Factors determining intention to leave among physicians in tertiary hospitals in China: a national cross-sectional
Chunyu Zhang1,2, Linlin Hu2, Jing Ma3
1China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China.
Insights
Physician intent to leave tertiary hospitals in China is not widespread. Enhancing organizational support and the work environment can improve physician retention, addressing factors like income and job satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Medical Sociology
- Healthcare Management
- Physician Workforce Studies
Background:
- Physician attrition is a growing concern in healthcare systems globally.
- Understanding the specific drivers of physician turnover is crucial for effective workforce planning.
- Limited research exists on the reasons physicians leave tertiary hospitals in China.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the prevalence of physicians' intent to leave tertiary hospitals in China.
- To identify individual-level and organizational-level factors associated with physicians' desire to work elsewhere or change careers.
- To explore the relationship between these factors and physician retention.
Main Methods:
- A national survey was conducted in 136 tertiary hospitals across China.
- 20,785 physicians self-reported on their intent to leave and related factors.
- Univariate analysis and multilevel regression models were used to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- 10.4% of physicians considered moving to another hospital; 20.5% intended a career change.
- Individual factors like higher income and job satisfaction reduced intent to leave.
- Organizational factors such as government subsidy per bed and personnel funding per capita were protective, while medical disputes increased intent to leave.
Conclusions:
- Physician intent to leave tertiary hospitals in China is relatively low.
- Improving organizational support and the occupational environment is key to physician retention.
- Addressing factors like workload and job satisfaction can mitigate turnover.
Objective:
The reasons that physicians leave the institutions have not been extensively studied. We aimed to evaluate these reasons, which include the desire to work at another hospital or the intention to make a career change, among physicians in tertiary hospitals in China and explore the associations between the individual-level and organizational-level factors related to these two reasons for leaving.
Methods:
We conducted a national survey of 136 tertiary hospitals across all 31 provinces in China between December 2017 and January 2018. A total of 20 785 physicians were selected to self-report on the two evaluated reasons related to physicians' intent to leave. A univariate analysis and multilevel regression model were applied to evaluate the factors associated with intention to leave.
Result:
In all, 10.4% of the participating physicians had thought about working at another hospital, and 20.5% intended to leave to make a career change. At the hospital level, the government subsidy per bed (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.98 and OR=0.91, 95% CI: 0.90 to 0.99), personnel funding per capita (OR=0.86, 95% CI: 0.76 to 0.96 and OR=0.80, 95% CI: 0.73 to 0.88) and the number of physicians per bed (OR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.81 to 0.86 and OR=0.89, 95% CI: 0.81 to 0.92) were negatively associated, while the number of hospital-level medical disputes (OR=1.04, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.05 and OR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.11) was positively associated with both reasons for leaving. At the individual level, income (OR=0.74, 95% CI: 0.71 to 0.79 and OR=0.88, 95% CI:0.83 to 0.92) and job satisfaction (OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.20 and OR=0.16, 95% CI: 0.15 to 0.18) acted as preventive factors against both reasons for leaving, while work hours per week (OR=1.11, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.17 and OR=1.23, 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.28) and medical dispute (OR=1.49, 95% CI:1.35 to 1.65 and OR=1.77, 95% CI: 1.64 to 1.91) acted as promotive factors.
Conclusions:
Although the intention to leave is not prevalent among physicians in tertiary hospitals in China, providing more organisational support and a better occupational environment may promote retention among physicians.
More Related Videos
08:57Quantification of Optic Nerve Cross Sectional Area on MRI: A Novel Protocol using Fiji Software
Published on: September 4, 2021
10:28Investigating the Relationship between Sea Surface Chlorophyll and Major Features of the South China Sea with Satellite Information
Published on: June 13, 2020
Related Concept Videos
01:50Cross-Sectional Research
00:59Hospitals-II
Nurses that work in...
01:26Profile Leveling and Cross Sections
01:28Hospitals-I
01:16Spinal Cord: Cross-sectional Anatomy
Gray Matter and its Components
Central to the gray matter is...
01:21Tertiary Healthcare System