School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations

Job Satisfaction Among British Physician Associates

Poster Number

245

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

3-2016

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the level of satisfaction of British Physician Associates (PAs) with their jobs and to determine which specific factors affect PA job satisfaction.

Methods: All British PAs were invited to participate in the annual census of the United Kingdom Association of Physician Associates (UKAPA) in May 2014. Of the 191 PAs living and working in the UK, 135 completed the survey (70.6%). The annual census collects data regarding specialty, location and scope of practice. In 2014, a job satisfaction survey was imbedded in the annual census. Respondents were asked to complete the Cooper 10-item job satisfaction scale, which has been validated in physician populations world-wide1,2. In addition, PAs were asked several PA-specific job satisfaction questions which have not been validated. Of the 135 respondents to the census, 124 completed the entire job satisfaction portion of the survey. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0.

Results: PAs were found to be satisfied with their work. No factor assessed by the survey had lower than 70.2% satisfaction rates. Only 8.0% of respondents reported being dissatisfied with their work overall. Most (87.1%) of PAs reported being “moderately satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their work. Of the satisfaction factors assessed, PAs were most satisfied with their colleagues, with 95.2% reporting satisfaction with their teams. PAs were least satisfied with their ability to use their training and abilities, with only 70.2% of participants reporting satisfaction with this aspect of their work. PAs were most satisfied with their hours of work, variety of their work, and physical working conditions and least satisfied with the pay and recognition they receive for their work.

Discussion: Like their American colleagues3, British PAs are generally satisfied with their work. They are least satisfied with their ability to fully use their training, which is likely due to the youth of the profession in Britain and lack of understanding of the PA role.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Open Access

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Presented at: GW Research Days 2016

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Job Satisfaction Among British Physician Associates

Purpose: To assess the level of satisfaction of British Physician Associates (PAs) with their jobs and to determine which specific factors affect PA job satisfaction.

Methods: All British PAs were invited to participate in the annual census of the United Kingdom Association of Physician Associates (UKAPA) in May 2014. Of the 191 PAs living and working in the UK, 135 completed the survey (70.6%). The annual census collects data regarding specialty, location and scope of practice. In 2014, a job satisfaction survey was imbedded in the annual census. Respondents were asked to complete the Cooper 10-item job satisfaction scale, which has been validated in physician populations world-wide1,2. In addition, PAs were asked several PA-specific job satisfaction questions which have not been validated. Of the 135 respondents to the census, 124 completed the entire job satisfaction portion of the survey. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0.

Results: PAs were found to be satisfied with their work. No factor assessed by the survey had lower than 70.2% satisfaction rates. Only 8.0% of respondents reported being dissatisfied with their work overall. Most (87.1%) of PAs reported being “moderately satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their work. Of the satisfaction factors assessed, PAs were most satisfied with their colleagues, with 95.2% reporting satisfaction with their teams. PAs were least satisfied with their ability to use their training and abilities, with only 70.2% of participants reporting satisfaction with this aspect of their work. PAs were most satisfied with their hours of work, variety of their work, and physical working conditions and least satisfied with the pay and recognition they receive for their work.

Discussion: Like their American colleagues3, British PAs are generally satisfied with their work. They are least satisfied with their ability to fully use their training, which is likely due to the youth of the profession in Britain and lack of understanding of the PA role.