White Coat Labor: Social Determinants of Health and Happiness for Medical Residents in China

• In Event: 3248 - Health Policy, Hospitals, and Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Resident physicians—medical school graduates who train as physicians—spend upwards of 80 hours per week working on patient health, yet research rarely focuses on the health of medical residents themselves, particularly in a global context. Oftentimes, residents report feelings of ‘burnout’ (Maslach, Jackson and Leiter 1997), which in turn may negatively affect their quality of work and desire to pursue careers in medicine. Moreover, in China, policy changes in residency training programs, which enforce additional years of specialist training following standard residency, are predicted to adversely affect residents’ physical and mental health following their institution in 2015 (Lio et al. 2017). Surveys of 110 residents, conducted at two third-tier hospitals affiliated with Wuhan University in summer 2016, provide a baseline snapshot of these residents’ self-rated health and well-being. Testing classical theories of social determinants of health, this paper examines the relationship between social support frequency and health, as well as motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and health, using regression models. Results provide new insight into classical theories of social determinants of health. Frequency of social interactions is positively related to self-rated health but not happiness; intrinsic, but not extrinsic motivation, is highly related to both health and happiness. Therefore, intrinsic rewards and increased social supports are recommended for implementation by local administrations to mediate adverse effects as residency training policy changes take place in China.

Author

• Winnie Q Tong, University of Chicago