Job satisfaction of village doctors during the new healthcare reforms in China.

Conclusions China is facing critical challenges with regard to village doctors because of their low job satisfaction. For future healthcare reforms, policy makers should pay more attention to appropriate remuneration and approaches that incentivise village doctors to achieve the goals of the health reforms.What is known about the topic? Village doctors act as gatekeepers at the bottom tier of the rural health system. However, the policies of the new healthcare reform initiatives in China were centred on improving the quality of care delivered to the rural population and reducing fast-growing medical costs. There have been limited studies on village doctors' reactions to these reforms.What does this paper add? The findings of the present study indicate that in the process of implementing the new healthcare reforms, village doctors' overall job satisfaction is low and most respondents are dissatisfied with the reforms. The factors affecting job satisfaction include income, training, social status, relationship with patients and satisfaction with the reforms.What are the implications for practitioners? Health reform policy makers should ensure village doctors feel appropriately remunerated and are motivated while aiming to reduce the financial burden on patients. The views of stakeholders (i.e. patients and village doctors) should be considered when designing future health reforms. PMID: 26910616 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research