Beyond Salary: Are You Happy With Your Work?

As we all know, surveying readers for salary information–with breakouts by profession, geographic region, and so on–is a fairly standard journalistic enterprise. And as a result, these data are fairly readily available.

What’s new about Clinician Reviews’ first annual Job Satisfaction survey is that we asked, “How do you feel about your work?” –and got straightforward answers from almost 1,000 health care clinicians (63% nurse practitioners and 34% physician assistants).

We found that, asked if given the chance to do it again, 85% of both NPs and PAs would choose the same career; 77%, the same educational preparation; and 74%, the same practice setting. Overall, a pretty happy bunch!

The survey results were published in the December 2016 Special Issue on Practice Management, along with articles on negotiating the professional contract, and opening and closing a practice, vital topics for clinicians making decisions about their future.

Among the compelling data:

  1. The clinicians’ average workweek is 51 hours, 29 of which are spent in direct patient care (examining, diagnosing, and treating). Those who reported being satisfied “always” or “most of the time” were those whose ratio of direct patient care skews higher than average, with a shorter workweek.
  2. The most important benefit sought—and obtained—by both groups is professional liability insurance, followed closely by paid time off.
  3. Two benefits–a retirement savings plan with employer match and access to a professional development fund—are highly desired but not offered by as many employers.
  4. Although 72% of NPs and PAs report high job satisfaction, since graduating, 51% of NPs and 58% of PAs have changed jobs 2 or 3 times, with salary and compensation being the most important factor and work-life balance the next most important factor in prompting a change.

In closing, “the high degree of job satisfaction speaks volumes…” and “both professions are generally happy about their career choice and jobs. Very reassuring…”

Karen Clemments, Editor – Clinician Reviews ([email protected])

Josh Prizer, Publisher – Clinician Reviews ([email protected])