THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SPECIALTY CHOICE AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF LEBANESE PHYSICIANS

Doctors suffer a stressful life and are less satisfied than individuals in other careers. A trend has been observed among medical students in USA showing a change of specialty choice to alleviate their quality of life. Even though most medical students choose their career path based on the field they are most pleased with, it sounds reasonable to get an idea about the quality of life in the specialty they will elect to do. The objective of this study is to evaluate the correlation between specialty choice and the quality of life of Lebanese physicians, to see which specialties have the most favorable quality of life and present their personal level of satisfaction regarding their lifestyle. This study conducted an anonymous modified short form survey (SF-36) questionnaire and some demographic data among Lebanese physicians practicing in Lebanon. Data was collected via emails using Lime Survey then entered and analyzed on SPSS software version 23.1. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. 470 complete responses were retrieved in this research by email via Lime Survey. Specialty choice had a significant effect only on three scales; physical functioning (p \u3c .001), social functioning (p \u3c .001) and role limitations due to emotional problems (p = .25), with no significant effect on energy and fatigue, emotional well-being, role limitations due to physical health, general health and pain. It was also found that specialty had significant effect on personal satisfaction (p =.016). The study concluded that Lebanese physicians who practice laboratory medicine, family medicine, and pathology specialties having the most favorable quality of life based on the scales assessed in the SF-36 and that those practicing pediatrics had lower levels of personal satisfaction compared to those with pathology specialty