Understanding Physician Work Motivation

• Conditions: Physician Work Motivation
• Interventions: Other: No intervention employed. Study is based on a cross-sectional observational design.

• Registration Number: NCT02263521
• Lead Sponsor: American Medical Association

Brief Summary

Development and validation of a measure of physician work motivation.

Detailed Description

Not that long ago, most physicians were solo practitioners. Today, more physicians are working in large, integrated delivery systems, and many are employed by hospitals and multispecialty group practices. These dramatic changes in the physician work environment raise important questions on how evolving physician payment and care delivery models support or undermine your motivation and ability to deliver high-quality patient care.

To evaluate the impact of workplace changes on what motivates physician to deliver good patient care, this study aims to develop an accurate measure of physician work motivation. Simultaneously, the investigators plan to test hypotheses on the role of various workplace and psychological factors in physicians' work motivation. Namely, the investigators hypothesize that:

20 to 25% of the variance in work motivation is explained by psychological needs satisfaction; 5 to 10% of the variance in self-reported overall health status and depression is explained by work motivation; 5% of the variation in work motivation is explained by work that is seen as a calling; and 5 to 10% of the variation in medicine viewed as a calling is explained by the learning environment.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2014-09-28
• Study Start: 2014-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2014-10-10
• Study First Posted: 2014-10-13
• Status Verified: 2015-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-01-12
• Last Update Posted: 2015-01-14
• Primary Completion: 2015-05
• Study Completion: 2015-09

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 4500

Inclusion Criteria

• practicing physicians in all medical specialties
• resident physicians in all medical specialties
• fourth year medical students in US allopathic medical schools

Exclusion Criteria

• physicians without an active medical license.
• resident physicians without an active medical license.
• fourth year medical students in US osteopathic medical schools

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
physicians	No intervention employed. Study is based on a cross-sectional observational design.	Nationally-representative sample of physicians in all specialties who have direct or indirect patient care responsibilities
medical students	No intervention employed. Study is based on a cross-sectional observational design.	Nationally-representative sample of 4th year medical students in all US allopathic medical schools.
resident physicians	No intervention employed. Study is based on a cross-sectional observational design.	Nationally-representative of resident physicians in all specialties

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Internalization of work motivation (self-reported)	Up to 4 months	Composite measure comprised of 15 items using 7-point Likert-type response categories (not at all true-very true) to assess extent of psychological internalization of work motivation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Medical learning environment that supports professionalism	Up to 4 months	Composite measure comprised of 13 statements using 5-point Likert-type response scale (strongly disagree-strongly agree) to assess experiences of medical professionalism in medical students' learning environments
Medicine as a calling	Up to 4 months	Composite measure comprised of 15 statements using true/false response scale to assess view of work as "calling," "career," or "job"
Psychological needs satisfaction at work (self-reported)	Up to 4 months	Composite measure comprised of 12 statements using 7-point Likert-type response categories (not at all true-very true) to assess perceived fulfillment of needs for autonomy, self-efficacy/competence, relatedness, and purpose in work context
Overall health status (self-reported)	Up to 4 months	Proportion of respondents reporting own overall health as "excellent," "very good," or "good" vs. "fair" or "poor"
Depression (self-reported)	Up to 4 months	Proportion of respondents reporting a score of \>3 on a two-item depression screening instrument (patient health questionnaire-2)