Date of Conferral

2014

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Leann Stadtlander

Abstract

Understanding physician well-being may help prevent physician burnout, improve the quality of care they provide to their patients, reduce medical errors, and improve patient satisfaction. Using the biopsychosocial-spiritual theory as the conceptual framework, this quantitative study examined the relationship between: (a) physician well-being and patient satisfaction, (b) physician gender and physician well-being, (c) primary care providers' and specialists' well-being, (d) patient satisfaction based on physician specialty, and (e) the duration of practice and physician well-being. All of the 87 employed physicians in a Florida regional hospital were invited to respond to a physician well-being questionnaire; a response rate of 58.4% was achieved. Patient satisfaction information was obtained through archived data of 4,500 patient surveys. Data were analyzed utilizing linear regression to examine the relationship between patient satisfaction and duration of physicians' practice, with the dependent variable, physician well-being. Two logistic regression analyses were utilized to examine (a) differences between physician well-being, gender, and specialty; and (b) differences between patient satisfaction and physician specialty. There were no significant relationships evident; however, it was speculated that the nonsignificance may be due to the small available sample of physicians. Future research on physician well-being may use the current findings to refine the conceptual framework and increase the understanding of how physician well-being can prevent physician burnout, improve the quality of care they provide to their patients, reduce medical errors, and improve patient satisfaction. Future research in this area will have the potential to increase the quality of patient care that will address positive social change.

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