Physician Files: Diaries of Professional Satisfaction

9,88,922 allopathic doctors are registered with the MCI. In the spectrum of healthcare, physicians play a crucial role. Despite the presence of many other clinicians, doctors remain an indispensable source for the delivery of care. How do these physicians feel about their profession? What are their work patterns and attitudes toward healthcare?

To find out the perception of doctors on the WhiteCoats app about their profession, we conducted a survey that questioned them on these aspects.

The survey was run on the app from 25th November to 30th December 2018. A total of 209 doctors participated in the survey which comprised five different questions.

The questions asked were as follows:

1. How often do you have family vacations?

2. How much time do you spend at your workplace?

3. How often do you have feelings of professional burnout in your medical career?

4. Are you happy with your profession?

5. Which best describes how you feel about the future of the medical profession?

On being asked on how often they take family vacations large proportion of doctors responded with once a year (44.6%). The second question based on time spent at the workplace was commonly answered as 8-12 hours (83.7%).

We also quizzed doctors on whether they had feelings of professional burnout in their careers. 42.8% of doctors mentioned that they sometimes experienced burnout, while 25% said often. On being asked if they were happy with their profession, 44.5% of doctors said that they were most of the times. While 39.1% responded by saying very much.

Doctors held a fairly optimistic view of the future of their profession with a majority saying the future looked somewhat and very positive (30.2% each).

Apps like WhiteCoats help digitally savvy physicians express their views and opinions on an exclusive platform for doctors. It was observed in the survey responses that despite being overworked doctors on the app were happy with their profession and had a positive outlook for the future.

They did experience professional burnout but it did not make a majority want to change their profession. Their belief in the future of the medical profession is commendable.

To know more about how WhiteCoats can help you in your professional advancement, visit www.whitecoats.com