The Nexus Between Medical Care Policy Alienation and Career Success: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim: This study examines the interrelationship between medical staff's sense of medical care policy alienation (SPA) and their subjective career success and the potential mediating roles of occupational calling (OC) and job satisfaction. Background: Medical staff's pivotal role in medical care policy implementation outcomes underscores their approach to career success, which affects work efficiency, and willingness to implement medical care policy. Effective policy is anticipated to be positively and rationally implemented, fostering favorable perceptions and career success among policy executors such as medical staff. However, limited research examines the relationship between career outcomes and medical staff's SPA. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted from May to June 2023 collected data from 521 medical staff in 14 hospitals in northern, western, and southern China through questionnaire surveys. The questionnaire measured their SPA, OC, job satisfaction, and career success. A chain multiple mediation model was constructed to explore SPA's relationship with medical staff's OC and job satisfaction, resulting in less career success, and whether work overload moderated this relationship. Results: Medical staff's SPA was negatively related to career success via a chain mediation mechanism involving OC and job satisfaction. Work overload did not moderate SPA's negative association with OC; however, it moderated its association with job satisfaction. High workload intensified SPA's association with job satisfaction, increasing the mediating effect on career success compared to those with lower workloads. Conclusion: Medical staff's SPA was significantly negatively related to career success, reflected in a weakened OC, and decreased job satisfaction. Work overload somewhat moderated the relationship between SPA and job satisfaction. Policymakers and medical stakeholders should emphasize improved communication between medical institutions and staff, which is essential for crafting and disseminating medical care policies. Medical care policy implementation should be enhanced in diverse Chinese contexts to enrich the understanding of medical policy management.