BMJ Survey: why are doctors so unhappy?
4 - 17 May 2001
Unhappiness league table
Unhappiness by grade
Reasons for unhappiness
Read background to this debate
Unhappy doctors : the league table
Unhappiness ranking | Country |
Numbers (percentages) | |||||
| Very unhappy | Unhappy | Neither | Happy | Very happy | Total respondents | ||
| 1 | United Kingdom | 170(23) | 320 (43) | 131 (17) | 103(14) | 17(2) | 741 |
| 2 | Spain | 1 (4) | 17 (63) | 8 (30) | 1 (4) | 27 | |
| =3 | Belgium | 1 (7) | 8 (57) | 4 (29) | 1 (7) | 14 | |
| =3 | India | 5 (12) | 24 (57) | 8 (19) | 3 (7) | 2 (4) | 42 |
| 5 | Greece | 1 (8) | 6 (50) | 4 (33) | 1 (8) | 12 | |
| 6 | Hong Kong | 2 (12) | 9 (53) | 2 (12) | 3 (17) | 1 (6) | 17 |
| 7 | Italy | 3 (12) | 12 (46) | 5 (19) | 5 (19) | 1 (4) | 26 |
| 8 | Canada | 6 (19) | 10 (31) | 7 (21) | 7 (21) | 2 (6) | 32 |
| 9 | United States | 6 (14) | 19 (45) | 4 (10) | 8 (19) | 5 (11) | 42 |
| 10 | Malaysia | 1 (10) | 4 (40) | 2 (20) | 3 (30) | 10 | |
| 11 | Ireland | 3 (14) | 8 (38) | 3 (14) | 6 (29) | 1 (5) | 21 |
| 12 | Pakistan | 1 (7) | 4 (29) | 6 (43) | 3 (21) | 14 | |
| 13 | Brazil | 2 (11) | 5 (28) | 6 (33) | 4 (22) | 1 (5) | 18 |
| 14 | Sweden | 2 (11) | 6 (32) | 4 (21) | 7 (37) | 19 | |
| 15 | Israel | 1 (10) | 2 (20) | 4 (40) | 3 (30) | 10 | |
| 16 | Australia | 3 (4) | 21 (33) | 23 (36) | 13 (20) | 4 (6) | 64 |
| 17 | Finland | 7 (28) | 11 (44) | 7 (28) | 25 | ||
| 18 | New Zealand | 3 (8) | 9 (25) | 11 (30) | 9 (25) | 4 (11) | 36 |
| 19 | Switzerland | 3 (27) | 3 (27) | 3 (27) | 2 (18) | 11 | |
Method: For countries with 10 or more respondents,
we ascribed the following values:
Very unhappy 2; Unhappy 1; Neither happy nor unhappy 0; Happy -1;
Very Happy –2and divided individual countries’ totals by the number of respondents.
Very unhappy 2; Unhappy 1; Neither happy nor unhappy 0; Happy -1;
Very Happy –2and divided individual countries’ totals by the number of respondents.
Unhappiness by grade
| Primary care doctor (general/family practice) | Secondary care doctor (senior grade) | Secondary care doctor (junior grade) | Doctor (other) | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very unhappy | 64 | 74 | 85 | 11 | 234 |
| Unhappy | 133 | 176 | 220 | 43 | 572 |
| Neither happy nor unhappy | 74 | 82 | 115 | 37 | 308 |
| Happy | 75 | 64 | 70 | 22 | 231 |
| Very happy | 14 | 19 | 8 | 9 | 50 |
Reasons for unhappiness
| UK Doctors | Non-UK Doctors | Non-Doctors | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| They are overworked | 484 | 400 | 75 | 959 |
| They are underpaid | 327 | 379 | 52 | 758 |
| They are inadequately supported | 327 | 305 | 48 | 680 |
| Their status is falling | 159 | 163 | 37 | 359 |
| They are exhausted by too much change | 135 | 88 | 33 | 256 |
| They have declining control over their work | 238 | 257 | 47 | 542 |
| They are increasingly accountable | 79 | 96 | 20 | 195 |
| Too big a gap separates what they have been trained for and what they have to do | 132 | 144 | 38 | 314 |
| They are left picking up the pieces in a society that has lost ways of coping with pain, sickness, and death | 273 | 202 | 44 | 519 |
| Their close contact with patients has been disrupted | 48 | 67 | 22 | 137 |
| Patients are too demanding | 131 | 142 | 17 | 290 |
| Modern medicine promises more than it can deliver | 168 | 157 | 31 | 356 |
| Politicians are stoking patients' expectations | 281 | 135 | 25 | 441 |
| Media coverage of doctors is too negative | 268 | 157 | 40 | 465 |
| The health service is falling apart | 259 | 136 | 41 | 436 |
View the results of previous bmj.com questionnaires