• Katherine Ann Gielissen, TaylorEmily PintoEPDivision of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA., David Vermette, and Benjamin Doolittle.
• Section of General Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. katherine.gielissen@yale.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Dec 1; 36 (12): 375937653759-3765.

BackgroundBurnout is high in primary care physicians and negatively impacts the quality of patient care. While many studies have evaluated burnout, there have been few which investigate those physicians who are satisfied with their careers and life-a phenomenon we term "thriving."ObjectiveTo identify factors contributing to both career and life satisfaction through qualitative interviews.ParticipantsThe subjects were primary care physicians.ApproachQualitative interviews were performed between July 2018 and March 2020. Physicians were identified by snowball sampling and were asked to complete validated instruments to identify job/life satisfaction and lack of burnout. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, focused on aspects of participants' career and life which contributed to their thriving, including work environment, social networks, family life, institutional support, coping strategies, and extracurricular activities. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis using a grounded theory approach.Main MeasuresPersonal, professional, and life factors that contributed to achieving career and life satisfaction in primary care physicians and potential solutions for burnout.ResultsThirty-two physicians were interviewed (9.4% family physicians, 9.4% combined internists-pediatricians, 40.6% internists, and 40.6% pediatricians) with a mean age 54.7 years and 23.8 years in practice. No physicians included met the criteria for burnout. All met the criteria for career and life satisfaction. Five themes were identified as critical to thriving: an intrinsic love for the work, a rich social network, a fulfilling doctor-patient relationship, a value-oriented belief system, and agency in the work environment.ConclusionsSeveral factors contribute to professional fulfillment and life satisfaction among primary care physicians, which we propose as a model for physicians thriving. Some factors were intrinsic, such as having value-oriented beliefs and inherent love for medicine, while others were extrinsic, such as having a fulfilling social network. Barriers and opportunities to apply these lessons for the wider physician community are discussed.© 2021. Society of General Internal Medicine.

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