Measuring determinants of career satisfaction of anesthesiologists: Validation of a survey instrument

Study Objective To measure the parameter of job satisfaction among anesthesiologists. Design Survey instrument. Setting Academic anesthesiology departments in the United States. Subjects 320 anesthesiologists who attended the annual meeting of the ASA in 2009 (95% response rate). Measurements and Main Results The anonymous 50-item survey collected information on 26 independent demographic variables and 24 dependent ranked variables of career satisfaction among practicing anesthesiologists. Mean survey scores were calculated for each demographic variable and tested for statistically significant differences by analysis of variance. Questions within each domain that were internally consistent with each other within domains were identified by Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.7. P-values ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Cronbach's alpha analysis showed strong internal consistency for 10 dependent outcome questions in the practice factor-related domain (α = 0.72), 6 dependent outcome questions in the peer factor-related domain (α = 0.71), and 8 dependent outcome questions in the personal factor-related domain (α = 0.81). Although age was not a variable, full-time status, early satisfaction within the first 5 years of practice, working with respected peers, and personal choice factors were all significantly associated with anesthesiologist job satisfaction. Conclusions Improvements in factors related to job satisfaction among anesthesiologists may lead to higher early and current career satisfaction.