Satisfaction with life among MBBS students and resident doctors of a tertiary hospital in South Delhi

INTRODUCTION

The objectives of the study were to determine subjective well-being and satisfaction among 1^st professional year MBBS students and resident doctors and to compare the subjective well being and satisfaction among 1^st professional MBBS students and resident doctors.

Satisfaction with life is not a measure of happiness towards life but of attitude towards life and subjective wellbeing.¹ Life dissatisfaction has shown to have an effect on the risk of suicide, which also makes this a composite health indicator.² The relevance of the study Satisfaction with Life lies in the role which it plays in several strata of life. It is very important for a person to be satisfied with his/her life as its absence may show itself in some negative form in the Person’s work performance and health and it can also affect a person’s ability to function at his fullest capacity and can thus reduce the work outcome.³

Mental disorders not only affect the adult population but is also persistent in the student population, with many realizing the need for medical attention but continue without any treatment with their regular social life which in majority of the students has the influence of drugs and alcohol.^4,5 Medical university students in particular have many stressors associated with their lives during their undergraduate training and a significant number turn to alcohol and drug use for pleasure and relaxation or as an escape from the constant stress.⁶ Symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts are on rise among members of medical profession who themselves have to treat people and help achieve the goal of positive health which is important for any community.⁷ Satisfaction with life in the medical population is thought to be influenced by a variety of factors which needs to be assessed.

METHODS

A cross sectional study was carried out from April 2019 to September 2019 among 1^st professional MBBS students and the Resident doctors in a tertiary care teaching hospital in New Delhi using stratified sampling technique. The sample size was taken as 200 (100 students and 100 resident doctors). The participants who were willing to A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire along with satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) was used to evaluate the level of satisfaction with life in the study population after obtaining their consent. Data was compiled on a MS-Excel sheet and was analysed with SPSS version 21.0. Various statistical analysis tests were also employed to find association between variables and results.

RESULTS

The mean (SD) age of the students was 18(±2) and of the resident doctors was 28(±3). Majority of the students were from Delhi and majority of the resident doctors were from other stations (Table 1). Among MBBS students the overall satisfaction was 76% and among the resident doctors, 68%were satisfied with life (Table 2).

Multiple options

The factors determining the satisfaction was varied among students and resident doctors. For students, the factors were choosing the professional course, academic environment and clinical learning. For the resident doctors, the common factors were working in reputed institute, relationship with family and friends and accommodation as well as food (Table 3).

DISCUSSION

The present study was done to find the life satisfaction among medical students and resident doctors working in a tertiary care hospital. The present study revealed a majority of the first year MBBS students (76%) and Resident doctors (68%) are satisfied with life based on the SWLS (satisfaction with life scale).

A slightly more percentage of 1^st Prof. MBBS Students were satisfied with their lives than resident doctors. Similar studies revealed results that a majority of the doctors where satisfied with their lives.^8,9

Though a majority of them are satisfied with their life, the number of those who aren’t is still a disturbing percentage. To find that almost one third of the doctors to be not satisfied with their lives would reflect on their job. As job satisfaction is a potent motivator.¹⁰ And about one fourth of the students being dissatisfied would mean that they also would not be able to perform well in their studies and also have a chance to end up with mental health problems including addictions.¹¹

Some of the important factors for dissatisfaction being work/study burden for the participants (43%), Relationship with colleagues and friends being the second (35.7%). This can be addressed by increasing the work force to reduce the work load among doctors or can even increase the pay for them. Another study suggests similar options for problems faced by doctors.¹¹ Necessary motivation and group sessions can be conducted to reduce the students’ burden.

*Multiple options

The major determining factors of satisfaction with life among 1st Prof. MBBS students were ‘choosing MBBS course’ (72%) and quality of hostel mess food and living in hostel (69%). The major determining factors among the resident doctors were ‘choosing medical profession’ (67%), working in a reputed institute (82%) and satisfaction with income (78%). The Medical profession is seen as one of the most noble and valued profession not only in India but all over the world, which can be a very good motivating factor to improve the life satisfaction in both students and junior doctors.¹² The other factors being a component of job satisfaction could mean that there is an association between the job satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Limitations

The limitation of the study is that it is conducted in a government central institute which could not be generalized to other institutes with different academic environment and learning.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we can say that majority of the medicos are satisfied with their life and that many factors are responsible for this. One factor alone cannot be fully responsible for the satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards life, it is multi-factorial as other studies have pointed out as well, regarding the satisfaction levels. More research can be done to find out more about possible association between the levels of satisfaction and these determining factors using this study as a precursor.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee

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