Background: Stress, fatigue, burnout work and dissatisfaction negatively disturb the surgeons social life, which in turn adversely affects health-care systems and patient care. However, little is known about the quality of social life among different surgical specialties in Saudi Arabia. The aim of the current study was to investigate the quality of life-based on specialty and its relation to personal social and financial factors.
Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on to surgeons, which included senior, and junior doctors both academic and non-academic using a questionnaire.
Results: Among the studied 1,300 participants, 73.5% were men, and 26.5% were women, 46% of contributors reported that they had four to six calls per month. However, more than 72% had 1-3 clinics per week. Ophthalmologists were found to be the most satisfied with no evidence of un-satisfaction followed by cardiac, and vascular surgeons. On the other hand, obstetrics/gynecology, general surgery, plastic surgery, and neurosurgery were the least satisfied specialties. Surgeons who were older, more senior, non-Saudi, married, living in Dammam or Hail and reported a fewer number of calls or fewer patients per operating room were more satisfied.
Conclusion:
The implementation of quality of social life strategies in the medical workplace, besides the increasing employee satisfaction, can contribute to reducing accidents and errors, and improve patient care, as the physician-patient collaboration truly is one of the critical interactions in healthcare.
Key words: Specialty, quality of surgeons social life, Saudi Arabia
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