title: [What Makes Happy Doctors? Job Satisfaction of General Practitioners in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - a Representative Cross-sectional Study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies provide evidence for the importance of general practitioners (GPs) job satisfaction for a secure and high quality health care provision. This study focuses on job satisfaction of GPs in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MV), a rural area threatened by a lack of GPs. We investigate how satisfied GPs are with their job and which factors influence their job satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 1 133 GPs working in MV in December 2011 were asked to complete a 57-item-questionnaire. The response rate reached 50.1%.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample is representative for GPs in MV. Levels of job satisfaction are high and correlate with age and sex: females and GPs below 50 years of age are more satisfied. Factors contributing to high job satisfaction include a good doctor-patient relationship, fair pay, and the variety of reasons for doctor-patient consultations in primary care. Although all GPs were dissatisfied with bureaucracy, this factor has little impact on GPs' overall job satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In light of the imminent lack of GPs, in future it will be important to improve factors that have been demonstrated to increase job satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Löffler
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Höck
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.affiliation: Institut für Biostatistik und Informatik in Medizin und Alternsforschung, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kundt
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Drewelow
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Völker
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kreiser
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Riedel
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, Rostock.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altiner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult