Qualitative Study of Doctors' Satisfaction Working in Public Hospitals in Myanmar

Abstract

The majority of people in Myanmar rely on public hospitals for healthcare services. According to WHO, the healthcare standard in Myanmar is very low in compared to other countries. To improve the ranking of healthcare standard, it is important to fix the errors in healthcare system. Healthcare policy makers, administrators and healthcare professionals are the ones who have a deep insight about healthcare system. Among them, doctors are the fundamental components of healthcare system and they are working in operational level. Therefore, a better understanding about the opinions and ideas of doctors can help the policy makers to improve the healthcare standard of Myanmar. In this study, job satisfaction of doctors and their perception about healthcare system of Myanmar has been explored. The objective of this study is to identify the satisfaction of doctors working in public hospitals in Myanmar by measuring their perception and expectation in their working environment. Qualitative method is used for this study and data are collected by using semi-structured open-ended questions. Individual in-depth interviews with 30 participants who are working in four public hospitals in Yangon (North Oakkala General Hospital, Insein General Hospital, Thingangyun Sanpya General Hospital, and Yangon General Hospital) were conducted for this research. Data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis method. According to the research findings, doctors perceived that healthcare system of Myanmar should have improved by redesigning newer strategies. Moreover, there are several factors to improve for job satisfaction of doctors working in public hospitals in Myanmar. Among them, doctor-patient relationship is the most important factor according to doctors’ perceptive. Then, physician well-being, autonomy, income and workloads follow, respectively. Those findings would help the policy makers and administrators to know which sectors are needed to improve job satisfaction of doctors and hopefully lead to a better healthcare system in Myanmar.