According to a survey, the vast majority (84%) of health professionals say they are satisfied with the practice of their profession. They are also more optimistic about the future than the rest of the French.
On the occasion of the International day of happiness organized by the United Nations (UN) on March 20, it is a nice message of hope that health professionals send to their patients. Despite the excessive workload in the hospital, or the burn-out which strikes one in two doctors, the vast majority of health professionals say they are satisfied with the daily exercise of their profession. These are the figures of a MACSF / Enov Research poll (1), the results of which were released on Wednesday.
Entitled “Health professionals barometer”, the study focused on dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, doctors, speech therapists, pedicurists and pharmacists. Among those polled, 84% said they were indeed satisfied “with the daily exercise of their profession” (including 24% very satisfied), against 75% of the French, according to the Barometer of professional morale of November 2012, cited by the ‘study.
Doctors and pharmacists a little less satisfied than the others
In detail, physiotherapists, speech therapists and pedicurists are the most satisfied with the daily practice of their profession (92%), ahead of dental surgeons (87%), interns (86%), nurses (84 %). Doctors (83%) and pharmacists (75%) bring up the rear for their part in this ranking with a lower degree of satisfaction than other health professionals.
Happier, but also more financially comfortable
Along with their working life, most health professionals (93%) are satisfied with the life they lead, against 82% for all French people (European Commission study of 2009). These results nonetheless fluctuate between 76% for pharmacists and 95% for physiotherapists, interns and nurses.
In addition, overall, doctors do not share the fears of some French people related to the current economic crisis. So much so that 86% of them say they are optimistic about their personal future.
But is this faith in the future due to the financial guarantees offered by these professions? Even if the survey does not answer this question, it should be remembered that overall, the remuneration of physicians is “significantly higher” than the average salary in all OECD countries (2). And according to the latest Organization Health Panorama published on November 21, 2013, France is no exception to this rule. French GPs thus earn twice the average income (€ 2,200 net). And if we compare this average salary with that of medical specialists, the gap widens further. The latter, in France, earn much better their living than other doctors. In other words, 3.5 times the average salary of a French person. In addition, in 2008, French dentists earned an average of € 7,800 per month, according to a recent report by Drees (3).
Health professionals believe they have a good image
Finally, 87% of these health professionals believe that the French have a good image of their profession. Among them, physiotherapists are those who most believe that their profession has a good image with the public (98%), ahead of nurses (93%). More surprisingly, only 38% of dentists think they have a good image with the French. Perhaps they think that the French shun them because of the dental care which is expensive and is little reimbursed by health insurance …
However, despite this good image that they believe they convey, 82% of interns, 75% of students and 72% of doctors say they fear being questioned by a patient in the exercise of their profession. This rate falls to 28% among physiotherapists, health professionals more “Zen” visibly.
(1) Study carried out from January 17 to February 13, 2013, by telephone, with 1,503 healthcare professionals, including 720 in practice, 461 in healthcare establishments, 207 students and 115 medical interns. The results have been adjusted to “give each profession its real weight”.
(2) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(3) Department of research, studies, evaluation and statistics
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