Investigating Individual Satisfaction and Dependent Factors in Emergency Medicine Specialists in Relation to the Major Selection: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Job satisfaction is a very important factor in increasing performance and creating a positive attitude in individuals among their jobs. It is therefore associated with several factors including psychological issues and organizational factors. So far, there has been little efforts to investigate job satisfaction among emergency medicine specialists. Therefore, the present study was designed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this major through the views of the experts, and to provide solutions to improve the job satisfaction among employees in this line of work. Methods: This phenomenological study was conducted using a qualitative method. Interviews were done using semistructured predefined questionnaire and by open questions. The “grounded theory” approach was used in the present study. The duration of the interviews was between 45 and 70 minutes depending on the desire of the participants and the adequacy of the data, and all of them were recorded on a digital tape. In order to evaluate the contents of the interviews, the content framework method was implemented. Results: The results were obtained based on the analysis of contents, which were categorized into 5 classes and 26 subclasses. Participants’ viewpoint showed that they believe the most important strengths of this field are increasing income for the hospital, improving the services quality, reducing respond time, increasing satisfaction of patients, more reporting, and better accountability of the nursing system. They believed that the weaknesses of this field include professional interference between emergency medicine specialists and other specialists, long working shifts (which result in a reduced work efficiency), low income comparing to work load, irregular salary payments, and in addition, the shortage of human resources, space, and facilities in emergency departments. They believed that all of these liabilities negatively affect the job satisfaction of specialists. Conclusion: The presence of emergency medicine specialists is an asset in hospitals, which leads to a quality improve in medical and diagnostic care of patients, reduction of costs and an increase in satisfaction of patients. Reducing night shift and paying attention to their work liabilities can improve the performance of emergency medicine specialists.