title: Factors associated with Australian and New Zealand oncologists' future work preferences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand the factors associated with oncologists' work preferences to help future workforce planning.
  
  
  METHODS
  In May 2008 a questionnaire was e-mailed to members of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia, Fellowship of Radiation Oncologists and the New Zealand Association of Cancer Specialists. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to determine if gender, age, specialist status or specialty were associated with the intention to work full time or part time or consider weekend or evening work, and with the level of satisfaction with current working hours.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 205 medical and radiation oncologists and trainees responded. Overall 77 (38%) oncologists intended to work part time. There was strong evidence (P<0.0001) that women were more likely than men to want to work part time (OR 4.18, 95% CI, 2.12-8.22). Overall 52% of oncologists were not prepared to work on weekends. Women were less willing to consider working on weekends than men (P=0.02, OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26-0.89). A total of 58% of oncologists felt they were working more than their ideal working hours. There was evidence (P<0.0001) that this was independently associated with oncology specialty; medical oncologists had twice the odds of feeling dissatisfied with their working hours compared with radiation oncologists (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.20-3.94).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female gender was the most important factor associated with wanting to work part time. This should be considered when planning the oncology workforce, particularly because an increasing number of oncologists are women.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision-making School of Public Health, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. rachel.dear@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Rachel F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Dear
authors.forename: Martin H N
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tattersall
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McGeechan
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaughan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload