Roughly 80% of physicians rated their overall hospital practice experience favorably, according to an analysis of more than 11,000 verified physician reviews collected by Doximity's Hospital Reviews product.
Doximity's first-ever Physician Hospital Satisfaction Report—based on ratings and free-text physician reviews of over a third of all U.S. hospitals—provides insight into what physicians do and don’t value in their workplace, how gender impacts the workplace experience, which specialties are the most and least satisfied, and more. Whether satisfied or dissatisfied, it’s clear that physicians across the country overwhelmingly care about the same core issues: support staff, administration, quality of facilities, and work-life balance.
Here are four key takeaways:
1. Support staff matters -- a lot
Across all reviews—positive and negative—the most commonly discussed topic is support staff, underscoring its influence on physician satisfaction.
For example, one physician praises “administrative leadership [that] is completely in tune with the medical staff and the community.Outstanding support staff that goes above and beyond the call of duty. The patient experience is excellent!” (Review)
By contrast, another physician laments that “support staff [are] close to non-existent. Have to do all of my own paperwork and often enter my own refills. No flexibility on the part of the management either with respect to schedule. Work-life balance? Are you kidding me?” (Review).
2. Doctors Appreciate High-Quality Facilities
Positive (4 or 5 stars) reviews more often mentioned “state-of-the-art” and “high quality” facilities, highlighting how modern infrastructure affects practice experience. The quality of the facility was the basis of one physician’s 5-star review:
“The hospital has brand new fully renovated preop and postop areas with large modern operating rooms with the latest technology and a new totally renovated orthopedic nursing floor. The operating room is very efficient and the staff is excellent.”
3. Culture Can Be a Dealbreaker
In contrast, negative (1 or 2 stars) reviews more often referenced a facility’s focus on money and “the bottom line.” Furthermore, negative reviews by women specifically referenced the existence of the “old boys’ club.”
Fig. 1. Most common phrases in positive (4 or 5 stars) and negative (1 or 2 stars) reviews.
4. Locums Doctors Are The Unhappiest
Locum tenens physicians left among the most negative reviews of any primary position—with more than 26% writing negative reviews. In contrast, less than 5% of administrative physicians and 12% of full-time employed physicians left negative reviews.
“Tough small town culture. Great city, but a tough culture. [Be] careful of a toxic workplace environment toward outsiders.” Locums Tenens Physician Review
Fig. 2. Percentage of negative reviews by reviewers’ practice type.
Are you happy at work? Write a review of your own workplace to make your voice heard, or check out feedback from your colleagues.
Explore all of Doximity’s Hospital Reviews Here