• Yunbei Xiao, Jinguo Wang, Si Chen, Zhigang Wu, Jian Cai, Zhiliang Weng, Chengdi Li, and Xiaowei Zhang.
• Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2014 Dec 1; 26 (6): 538-42.

BackgroundChinese physicians are not only facing heavy work overloads, but also abuse and injury because of patient mistrust of physicians. The primary objective of the present study was to measure psychological distress, burnout levels and job satisfaction among Chinese emergency physicians.MethodsAll the physicians from the EDs of three large general hospitals were recruited to undertake a questionnaire-based survey from March to April 2012. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire were used. Correlations between job satisfaction and psychological distress and burnout were calculated using the Pearson correlation. An outcome was considered statistically significant if P < 0.05.ResultsCompleted questionnaires were received from 205 (82.0%) physicians. The mean HADS anxiety subscale scores for the ED physicians and general population were 7.8 ± 3.4 and 4.7 ± 3.5, respectively (t = 1.526, P < 0.05). Additionally, the mean HADS depression subscale scores were 7.9 ± 3.6 and 4.7 ± 3.9, respectively (t = 1.567, P < 0.05). Fifty-two (25.4%) exhibited high levels of career burnout. All aspects of job satisfaction were significantly lower in the ED physicians compared with a previous report (P < 0.05). Burnout was significantly negatively correlated with intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction in the sampled population.ConclusionPsychological distress is prevalent in this group of ED physicians, and it deserves attention from the whole society. Burnout and job satisfaction among ED physicians are at a 'moderate' level. Burnout is negatively associated with higher job satisfaction.© 2014 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

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