Table 5.

Influencing factors of doctors’ job satisfaction controlling for gender, age and education

	Overall job satisfaction
Variables	Mean	SD	p Value*
Level of hospital			0.000
Primary (CHCs and THCs)	3.23	0.06
Secondary (county hospitals)	2.83	0.08
Tertiary (provincial hospital)	2.82	0.09
Position rank			0.064
Low	3.12	0.06
Middle	2.91	0.06
High	2.97	0.15
Work hours per week			0.000
<50	3.23	0.06
50 or more	2.92	0.05
Outpatient visits per doctor per day			0.102
<50	3.14	0.07
50–100	2.99	0.07
≥100	2.85	0.11
Not applicable	3.12	0.08
Average visit time per patient (minutes)			0.004
<10	2.92	0.05
10–20	3.23	0.08
≥20	2.97	0.25
Not applicable	3.22	0.09
Overtime hours per week			0.020
<10	3.15	0.05
10–30	2.95	0.06
≥30	2.83	0.13
On-call duties			0.001
Yes	2.94	0.05
No	3.26	0.08
Monthly salary			0.004
<1000 RMB	2.72	0.12
1000–3000 RMB	3.05	0.04
≥3000 RMB	3.24	0.10
Patients’ help-seeking behaviours and aggression
Patients often go to higher level hospitals (eg, tertiary hospitals) with simple complaints which could be dealt with at a lower level hospital			0.718
Disagree	3.07	0.10
Agree	3.04	0.04
Sometimes patients just want to get drugs and tests rather than really seeking medical advice from doctors			0.040
Disagree	3.22	0.09
Agree	3.01	0.04
Nowadays patients are better informed about their own medical conditions so that sometimes they demand specific treatments from doctors			0.586
Disagree	2.99	0.11
Agree	3.05	0.04
Patients are becoming more aggressive in their demands			0.008
Disagree	3.22	0.08
Agree	2.98	0.04
Patients are more likely to sue doctors even when they are trying to do their best			0.532
Disagree	3.12	0.13
Agree	3.04	0.04
The number of complaints by patients has increased in recent years			0.052
Disagree	3.19	0.09
Agree	3.00	0.04
Violence against doctors by their own patients is increasing			0.063
Disagree	3.27	0.13
Agree	3.02	0.04

*p Values for analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling gender, age and education.