Workload, Stress, Life Satisfaction and Quality of Life among Anesthesiologists in Thailand

Abstract

Background: According to the Thai anesthesiologist shortage and no previous survey about stresswas reported.

Objective: To study the workload, work responsibility, stress, life satisfaction and quality of life (QoL) among anesthesiologists in Thailand together with its correlation during 2012-2013. Methods: This questionnaire including demographics, workload, 20 items Stress test and
World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Test, Thai version was collected. The target group was the entire member of the Royal College of Anesthesiologists of Thailand before July 1st, 2012.The comparison of stress and QoL categorized by the demographics was done including the logistic regression for finding the factors related.
Results: The one hundred and ninety four (15.11%) questionnaire was gathered. The average age was 43.40±10.16 years. During official hour, the responsibilities and workloads were 164.03±106.83 patients and 39.49±8.98 hour/week while in non-official hour were 73.23±47.31 patients and 43.45±34.76 hour/week. The stress and QoL score were 31.08±6.39 and 87.01±9.63. The factors related to a high level of stress were the number of patients during official hour (OR 2.04, 95%CI 1.32-4.07, p=0.03) and the number of patients during non-official hour (OR 3.36, 95%CI 1.78-5.36, p=0.001) while the factors related to a low QoL were the hospital types: community hospital (OR 1.99, 95%CI 1.23-2.32, p=0.02) and special hospital(OR 1.61, 95%CI 1.02-2.91, p=0.04).

Conclusion:The anesthesiologist working hour was lawful overloaded which affected to the high level of stress and unsatisfied quality of life. The patient number and hospital circumstances played a role. The corrective strategies should be overwhelmed.