Core competency of doctors at tertiary public hospitals in regions of different income levels in China: a cross-sectional survey / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the core competency of doctors in tertiary public hospitals in regions of different income levels in China, and provide reference for promoting such competency and related policy formulation.Methods:Using multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method, 195 tertiary public hospitals in 16 provinces of China were selected from November 2021 to March 2022. 200 doctors were sampled from each hospital. A self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the status of doctors′ core competencies, as well as the status of their postgraduate medical education and continuing medical education. According to the per capita gross regional product of each province in China Statistical Yearbook 2022, each province was divided into high, middle and low income regions, and the questionnaire data were descriptively analyzed, while χ2 test was used to compare the differences between groups. Results:A total of 32 673 valid questionnaires were collected. There were 12 135 doctors (37.14%) in China who had received comprehensive education and training of core competency in all dimensions. Among the dimensions of self-rated core competency of the surveyed doctors, there were 10 019 doctors (30.66%) with insufficient teaching ability and 438 (1.34%) with insufficient professional quality, and there was no significant difference between regions ( P>0.05). There were 2 385 (27.08%), 2 528 (27.55%) and 3 646 (24.82%) doctors in high-, middle- and low-income regions with insufficient lifelong learning ability, respectively. The proportion of doctors in middle- and high-income regions was higher than that in low-income ones ( P<0.05). There were 1 317 (15.57%), 1 290 (14.06%) and 2 719 (18.51%) doctors with insufficient knowledge and skills in high-, middle- and low-income areas, respectively. The proportion of doctors in low-income regions was higher than that in middle- and high-income regions ( P<0.05). The proportion of doctors who did not receive any kind of postgraduate medical education or continuing medical education in low-income regions was 7.33% (1 077 people), higher than that in high-income and middle- income ones ( P<0.05); 50.44% (4 442 people) of surveyed doctors in high-income regions believed that for standardized training of resident physicians (hereinafter referred to as residential training), the clinical teachers were " overworked to take this job", which was higher than that in middle- and low-income regions ( P<0.001); In middle-income regions, 46.16% (4 235 people) and 43.46% (3 987 people) believed that the salary residents and specialized physicians in standardized training (hereinafter referred to as specialized training) was too low, while 42.47% (3 897 people) and 30.44% (2 793 people) believed that the clinical practice opportunities of students were limited, both of which were higher than those in high-income and low-income regions ( P<0.001); 34.91% (5 128 people) of surveyed doctors in low-income regions believed that the investment was insufficient for training bases of residential training, 27.81% (4 085 people) of those held that training bases for specialized training were unevenly distributed, and 33.19% (4 876 people) of those held that continuing medical education was plagued by " insufficient promotion coverage, and insufficient opportunities for primary doctors", all of which being higher than those in high- and middle-income regions ( P<0.001). Conclusions:There is an obvious need to improve the core competence of doctors in the teaching ability dimension of tertiary public hospitals in China, especially in middle- and high-income regions for lifelong learning, and in low-income regions for knowledge and skills; There are differences between postgraduate medical education and continuing medical education systems in regions of different income levels in China. It is necessary to improve the competency oriented postgraduate medical education and continuing medical education systems.