Keywords: Motivation; Physicians; Nurses; Students, medical;

Background:

Motivation is important to attracting, retaining, and effectively training the healthcare workforce. Motivation is an internal process that drives and sustains goal-directed behavior. Many factors are involved - intrinsic ones, arising from within ourselves, and extrinsic ones, coming from external rewards or punishments. An understanding of motivational factors can help leaders and mentors better design environments and strategies aligned with positive motivation and achievement. This, in turn, can help equip, support, and inspire early-career general practitioners to become active contributors to research and innovation (the 101st Meeting theme).

Research questions:

What are the intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivational differences between medical students, physicians, and nurses in Poland and Ukraine?
How do profession, gender, and country influence motivational attributes?

Method:

An anonymous paper-and-pencil survey was carried out in Poland and Ukraine in 2019. Healthcare professionals from two hospitals and students from one university in each country completed the Motivators for Healthcare Professionals Questionnaire (Korlen et al., 2017). The scale has 20 items rated on a Likert scale from 0 to 5 with 2 sub-scales: intrinsic motivation (IM, 8-item) and extrinsic motivation (EM, 12-item). The Wilcoxon test for paired samples was used to compare participants' scores on the IM vs. EM sub-scales.

Results:

142 Polish and 126 Ukrainian physicians (22%), nurses (39%), and medical students (39%) completed the survey. Male physicians from both Ukraine and Poland reported higher EM than IM scores, while female students from both Ukraine and Poland reported more IM than EM scores, as did Polish female doctors (p's < 0.05).

Conclusions:

The results can be interpreted using different theories of motivation, e.g., Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or self-determination theory. Similar motivational "pulse taking" surveys within a clinical or healthcare organization, as well as discussions with staff and students, may help mentors, managers, and decision makers personalize their motivational strategies and achieve better impact.

Points for discussion:

What motivates you to empower the next generation of family physicians?

How do you know what motivates the students, early career professionals, and colleagues you work with?

What external supports within the clinic and healthcare system are needed to personalize our motivational strategies?