Resident Doctors' Professional Satisfaction and Its Effect on Their Lives

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction of residents, concerning their residency preferences, living conditions, medical residency training and working conditions in the Medical Faculty of Dokuz Eylul University.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study; the questionnaire, consisting of 51 questions including demographic data and a Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, was carried out face-to-face with 252 resident doctors who accepted to participate.Results: Of the participants, 92.1% were enthusiastic while choosing their specialization. In the choice of residency, desire to specialize (52.0%), to find the ideal career (51.2%), promising specialties (50.4%) were considered respectively. Although the income affected the choice of 25.8%, most of them (72.2%) considered that the income was not enough. The mean job satisfaction score was determined as 3.39±0.59. Job satisfaction scores were higher in residents who were enthusiastic about their specialization, had less hours on duty, had priority for training within their departments, thought that they were not used for drudgery, found the physical conditions and salary adequate, assessed their training as sufficient (p<0.05).Conclusion: Residency is an important period of professional life, and it is important to be aware of the factors affecting resident doctors' satisfaction so that better training and working environment can be achieved. (Marmara Medical Journal 2012;25:20-5)