Intraprofessional relationships

Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.

Bill Bradley (NBA player, former US Senator)

According to the 2007 National Physician Survey (NPS), there are several factors that might affect physicians’ perceptions of overall satisfaction with relationships:

Working dynamics

The percentage of FPs satisfied with the usefulness and reliability of the consultations they received from other specialists was 76%. The percentage of other specialists satisfied with the usefulness and reliability of the referrals they received from FPs was 52%.

Access to other physicians

On a 5-point scale, 55% of other specialists rated access to FPs for their patients as fair or poor. Thirty-six percent of FPs rated access to other specialists in general for their patients as fair or poor.

Remuneration

The percentage of FPs who indicated that they were satisfied with their comparative net revenue per hour compared with other FPs was 45%. Percentage of other specialists who indicated that they were satisfied with their comparative net revenue per hour compared with others within their specialty was 48%. Thirty-three percent of non-FP specialists were satisfied with their comparative net revenue compared with other non-FP specialists. Twenty-six percent of FPs were satisfied with their comparative net revenue compared with non-FP specialists.

As it stands

Physicians rated their satisfaction with their relationships with one another (Figure 1) as follows:

Figure 1

Levels of satisfaction within physician relationships

The highest level of satisfaction was between FPs, in which 81% of FPs were satisfied with their relationships with other FPs (unchanged from 2004).
Seventy percent of FPs were satisfied with their relationships with physicians in other specialties (virtually unchanged from 71% in 2004).
Seventy-eight percent of specialists other than FPs were satisfied with their relationships with physicians in other specialties, excluding FPs (down slightly from 81% in 2004).
Sixty-eight percent of specialists other than FPs were satisfied with their relationships with FPs (down slightly from 71% in 2004).

The NPS is a collaborative project of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Additional results are available at www.nationalphysiciansurvey.ca. If you would like the opportunity to develop and write a future Fast Fact using the NPS results, please contact Sarah Scott, National Physician Survey and Janus Project Coordinator, at 800 387–6197, extension 289, or sks{at}cfpc.ca.