An Online Survey on Job Satisfaction among Indian Radiologists - Under-Studied Journey from Promised Land to Paradise Lost

Abstract

BACKGROUND Globally, radiodiagnosis is considered as one of the most sought after specialty in the field of medicine, based on the perceived notion that it is a high income, risk-averse, white-collared job. Radiologists are touted as being one of the highest paid specialists with defined work-hours; however, the ground reality appears to be in contradiction, particularly in the Indian context. The purpose of this study was to objectively assess the current day situation amongst the Indian radiologists. This gender-neutral survey not only dispels many of the prevailing assumptions but also brings to clear light the issues that assail the radiologist on a day to day basis. METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed with Google survey forms and collected data was obtained from 370 radiologists regarding various parameters, such as the workplace, years of experience, work hours per day, monthly income, peer, and work-related pressures, and their overall perceived happiness quotient. Issues concerning threats to radiology, the need for super or subspecialty training were also addressed. RESULTS Most of the young radiologists opted to work in either diagnostic centers or corporate hospitals as salary drawn was considerably higher than their counterparts in medical colleges. Nearly half the radiologists working at medical colleges augmented their income by working in diagnostic centers. Nearly 2/3rds of the young radiologists work for an average of 10 hours per day, six days a week with a take home salary of approximately 1 – 2 lakhs per month. Only 5 % of the radiologists stated that they were most happy with their work environment, nearly 57 % of them had some kind of occupational hazard and this was directly related to the years of work. Burn out predominated amongst the upcoming radiologists with less than 5 years of work experience and this was found to be compounded by work hours, work pressure and inadequate compensation. CONCLUSIONS Today, young radiologist is caught in a whirlpool of change that has not only threatened the “concept of a settled, satisfied, specialist”, furtherance to this, commoditization of radiology has led to increase in work hours, work pressure, leading to dissatisfaction and early burn out. KEY WORDS Radiologist, Psychosocial Aspects, Burn Out, Artificial Intelligence.