title: Motivation for career choice and job satisfaction of GP trainees and newly qualified GPs across Europe: a seven countries cross-sectional survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recruitment to general practice is a major concern in many countries. Cross-national exploration of motivation for career choice and career satisfaction could help inform workforce planning.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to explore motivation for career choice and job satisfaction of GP trainees and newly qualified GPs (NQGP) across seven European countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  We surveyed GP trainees and recently qualified GPs in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom using a web-based questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of individuals who responded was 3722 (2533 GP trainees; 1189 NQGP). The most frequently cited reasons for choosing GP were 'compatibility with family life' (59.5%), 'challenging medically broad discipline' (58.9%), 'individual approach to people' (40.1%), 'holistic approach' (37.8%) and 'autonomy and independence' (30.4%). Despite differences in workload, work-life balance and earnings, overall job satisfaction was high, with over 80% saying that they would choose to be a doctor again; of these 78.4% would choose to be a GP again.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our sample reasons for choosing general practice as a career were strongly positive, with compatibility with family life the most frequently cited reason overall. This has implications for workforce planning. Further qualitative studies are needed to explore issues raised in more detail.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General Practice, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Krankenhausstr. 12, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. marco.roos@uk-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: University of Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Implementation Science, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wensing
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peters-Klimm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice / Q000193:education*; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires