Workplace-related stress among physicians in Mongolia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Mongolia faces challenges in health sector human resource development. Every year 4-5% of all physicians change their employment place within the health sector, and another 3-4% leave their jobs for reasons other than retirement. To date, no thorough analysis of occupational stress among physicians has been conducted despite the fact that workplace-related stress could be one of the key reasons for staff shortags in the health sector. This study was conducted to assess physicians’ workplace-related stressors in Mongolia, using Occupational Stress Index for Physicians (OSI-MD).

In total, 219 physicians (179 females and 40 males) participated in the study. The participants were classified into three groups: 1) physicians in the surgical field; 2) other physicians involved in patient care, and 3) physicians not involved in direct patient care. An analysis of variance was used for a comparison of the stress scores among the groups.

Physicians involved in patient care had a higher total score for the aspects of “high demand”, “strictness”, and “extrinsic time pressure” than physicians not involved in direct patient care (p<0.05, p<0.01, and p<0.05, respectively). Physicians in the surgical field had a higher total score for “noxious exposure” and “threat avoidance” than other physicians (p<0.01 and p<0.01, respectively). Physicians aged 50 years and over had a lower total score than ones (p<0.05).

The present study demonstrated high occupational stress burden among physicians in Mongolia. The study further documented differences in workplace-related stressors among various physician groups and different levels of occupational stress burden according to the physician’s age.