Job satisfaction among family medicine physicians in Saudi Arabia

Physicians are subject to chronic stressors, depression, and burnout due to long working hours, high requirements, and critical decision-making.[12345] All those reasons contribute to the dissatisfaction of physicians. The dissatisfaction of physicians might lead to lower health-care quality.[6] Moreover, patient satisfaction is strongly affected by physician satisfaction.[78] This study aims to measure job satisfaction among family medicine (FM) physicians in Saudi Arabia.

In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 265 FM physicians working in Saudi Arabia to participate in an online survey between October 2019 and January 2019.

Results showed that more than 50% of the respondents were very satisfied with their career choice (55.5%, n = 147). Non-Saudis who were satisfied or strongly satisfied were higher than those of Saudis (P = 0.035) and 2.45 times more likely to be dissatisfied compared to non-Saudi respondents. Respondents from the southern region were 81% less likely to be dissatisfied than respondents from the central region (OR = 0.19, P < 0.05).

Family medicine physicians showed a high level of satisfaction with their career choice regardless of gender, age, sector public or private, marital status. This is promising for family medicine as a medical specialty. The future of health care in Saudi Arabia is driven toward general practice and primary care centers, which aligns with the future vision of Saudi Arabia 2030.