Medical careers: The opinions of family physicians

Abstract

Introduction: Faced with the inevitable change of the medical careers established by the Act nº 73/90 it is important to think its updating. Objectives: To evaluate the degree of satisfaction with the present Medical Career of Family Medicine. To determine the opinion of family doctors concerning: current categories and degrees; ways of recruitment and selection; regime of work; remuneration; evolution in the career. Type of study: Observational study. Population: Family Doctors present in the 24th National Meeting of General Practice and visitors of FNAMs website. Methodology: Convenience sample (n=181). Application of an electronic questionnaire, available in FNAMs website (n=101) and in the meeting in paper format (n=80). Results: 40.9% of respondents were dissatisfied/very much dissatisfied with the chances of progressing in the career and 58.6% were dissatisfied/very much dissatisfied with the adaptation of the remuneration to the work that they execute; 48.1% were satisfied/very much satisfied with the workspace and available equipments and 55.2% were satisfied/very much satisfied with the access to new technologies. Regarding the current categories, 47.0% agree with the categories of Assistant, Graduated Assistant and Chief of Service and 55.2% agree with the current rules for recruitment and selection. Concerning to the current degrees, 43.6% agree with the degrees of Generalist and Consultant and 59.7% agree with the current rules established for getting the degrees. 76.2% of respondents agree with the introduction of the positive discrimination linked with performance for the remuneration of doctors. Regarding career progression, most agree that it should take into account the evaluation of individual performance (93.4%), contribution to the results of the organization (86.7%), knowledge (81.8%) and professional training/continuous education (78.5%). Conclusion: There was overall agreement with the actual legislation.