Relationship between job satisfaction and performance of primary care physicians after the family physician reform of east Azerbaijan province in Northwest Iran.

BACKGROUND Following the implementation of family physician program in 2004 in Iranian healthcare system, the understanding in changes in physicians' practice has become important. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the level of family physicians' job satisfaction and its relationship with their performance level. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among all 367 family physicians of East Azerbaijan province in during December 2009 to May 2011 using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire for job satisfaction. The performance scores of primary care physicians were obtained from health deputy of Tabriz Medical University. RESULTS In this study, overall response rate was 64.5%. The average score of job satisfaction was 42.10 (±18.46), and performance score was 87.52 (±5.74) out of 100. There was significant relationships between working history and job satisfaction (P = 0.014), marital status (P = 0.014), and sex (P = 0.018) with performance among different personal and organizational variables. However, there was no significant relationship between job satisfaction and performance, but satisfied people had about three times better performance than their counterparts (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The low scores of family physicians in performance and job satisfaction are obvious indications for more extensive research in identifying causes and finding mechanisms to improve the situation, especially in payment methods and work condition, in existing health system.