Unhappiness and dissatisfaction in doctors cannot be predicted by selectors from medical school application forms: A prospective, longitudinal study

Table 1 Responses of happy and unhappy doctors.

How often do the following statements describe the way you feel about working as a doctor?	Group	Every day	A few times a week	Once a week	A few times a month	Once a month or less	A few times a year	Never
a) I think of giving up medicine for another career	Happy						6	34
	Unhappy	17	8	5	9		1
b) I reflect on the satisfaction that I get from being a doctor	Happy	12	25	3
	Unhappy		1		11	12	12	4
c) I regret my decision to have become a doctor	Happy						5	35
	Unhappy	5	11	5	11	7	1

The three questions used for assessing happiness and satisfaction in the doctors. For the first and third questions (a and c) a response of 'every day' is scored as 0, 'A few times a year' as 1, through to 'Never' being scored as 6, whereas the second question (b) is scored in the reverse order. The responses of the 40 happy doctors are shown in bold, whereas the responses of the 40 unhappy doctors are shown in italics.

ISSN: 1472-6920