Working conditions of primary care pediatricians

Introduction: in the Public Health System, the population should be the focus and its main asset; ensuring that the patient-doctor encounter takes place under quality conditions is fundamental in the organization and design of health systems. To know the reality of primary care teams (AP) and the working conditions of Primary Care Pediatricians (PAP) is essential in order to provide better care to our patients. The objectives are: to know the conditions of the workplace and the means, resources, workloads, management autonomy and work-life balance.

Methods: descriptive observational study by online survey to PAP in Spain through a distribution list (PEDIAP) and the mailing list of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) in December 2012.

Results: 809 responses from all the regions of a total of 6258 PAP posts. Some 40.6% believe that the conditions of the office does not allow the proper development of their work, 50% have no access to any additional tests deemed necessary, eight in ten spend more than 75% of their time working exclusively in care tasks. Up to a third of the pediatricians have to take care of the full work of a colleague for extended periods due to lack of a substitute doctor. Nearly 80% believe that there are conditions that facilitate work-life balance. Only 28% of health care teams have the ability to self-manage the budget for substitutions. There are significant differences for all items studied among the various autonomous regions.

Conclusions:PAP working conditions are far from fulfilling the requirements that ensure proper clinical care. The limited ability to participate in managing the potential for improvement lies outside the PAP and even the AP's team.