Job preferences of doctors at township health center：A discrete choice experiment in three provinces of China / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the job preference of doctors at township health center ( THC) and provide references for formulating effective policy. Methods:238 cases of doctors were sampled from Shandong, Anhui and Shaanxi provinces. Using a discrete choice experiment, we analyzed the data with a conditional logit model. Results:The most important job attribution was salary, followed by education for children, permanent post, work location, training opportunity, and years before promotion. The OR value of the monthly income of 8 000 yuan is 7. 0 compared to 2 000 yuan. Doctors will pay 3 857 yuan and 3 294 yuan respectively for better education for children and perma-nent posts. Monthly income increasing to 8 000 yuan will reduce the quitting rate from 35% to 8%, and providing better education for children and permanent posts will reduce 5%. The permanent posts at township health center and non-permanent posts in county hospital have the same appeal to the doctor. Conclusion:When choosing a job, doc-tors at THCs valued salary the most. Improving the education level for children can be beneficial for attracting and re-taining doctors at THCs. A permanent post is more attractive to doctors than non-permanent posts at THCs.