Organizational Culture, Job Satisfaction, and Clinician Turnover in Primary Care

The purpose of this study is to examine how organizational culture and job satisfaction affect clinician turnover in primary care pediatric practices. One hundred thirty clinicians from 36 primary care pediatric practices completed the Primary Care Organizational Questionnaire (PCOQ), which evaluates interactions among members of the practice and job-related attributes measuring 8 organizational factors, along with a separate 3-item instrument measuring job satisfaction. Random effects logistic models were used to assess the associations between job satisfaction, the organizational factors from the PCOQ, and clinician turnover over the subsequent year. All 8 measured organizational factors from the PCOQ, particularly perceived effectiveness, were associated with job satisfaction. Five of the 8 organizational factors were also associated with clinician turnover. The effects of the organizational factors on turnover were substantially reduced in a model that included job satisfaction; only 1 organizational factor, communication between clinicians and nonclinicians, remained significant (P =.05). This suggests that organizational culture affects subsequent clinician turnover primarily through its effect on job satisfaction. Organizational culture, in particular perceived effectiveness and communication, affects job satisfaction, which in turn affects clinician turnover in primary care pediatric practices. Strategies to improve job satisfaction through changes in organizational culture could potentially reduce clinician turnover.