• Koji Wada, Mayuri Arimatsu, Toshiaki Higashi, Toru Yoshikawa, Susumu Oda, Hatsumi Taniguchi, Masatoshi Kawashima, and Yoshiharu Aizawa.
• Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. kwada-sgy@umin.ac.jp
• J Occup Health. 2009 Jan 1; 51 (3): 261-6.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine factors of working conditions associated with job satisfaction among physicians in Japan.MethodsWe sent a questionnaire to all the physicians who graduated from a medical school in Japan. Physicians who were satisfied with their job were determined as those who selected "very satisfied" and "satisfied" in response to the question: "Overall, are you satisfied with your job?" Working conditions were determined from 10 different aspects: income fairness, hospital resources, career satisfaction, difficulty in patient care, lack of personal time, administrative work, workload, and relationships with physician colleagues, staff and patients. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between working conditions and job satisfaction.ResultsAmong the respondents, 209 (55.4%) men and 62 (61.4%) women were determined to be satisfied with their job. Job satisfaction was associated with income fairness for both men (corrected odds ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.09 to 1.47) and women (1.35, 1.05 to 1.53). For men, job satisfaction was associated with good hospital resources (1.45, 1.29 to 1.57), high career satisfaction (1.41, 1.23 to 1.57), good relationships with physician colleagues (1.33, 1.12 to 1.49), and good relationships with hospital staff (1.28, 1.07 to 1.45). For women, job satisfaction was associated with good relationships with patients (1.41, 1.07 to 1.56).ConclusionsCertain working conditions were important factors for job satisfaction among physicians. These factors should be discussed for improving working conditions.

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