Few interpersonal and organizational communication studies examine the professional and organizational aspects of career satisfaction among minority physicians. Due to the underrepresenation of minority physicians, most studies resort to comparing aggregate groups of minority physicians in juxtaposition to non-minority physicians. These studies fail to uncover possible communication differences, which originate from cultural dissimilarities between disaggregate racial/ethnic groups. Even fewer studies examine physicians' written communication to open-ended survey questions about career satisfaction/dissatisfaction between disaggregate racial/ethnic minority groups and non-minorities. This study specifically examines written responses to two open-ended survey questions about professional and organizational dissatisfaction and compares responses from disaggregate minority physician and non-minority physicians. Participants were divided into five response-driven categories of race/ethnicity as follows: Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Indian/Pakistani, Hispanic, and White/Non-Hispanic. The population consists of 1849 members of the medical staff roster of a Southeastern, U.S., not-for-profit hospital group. Primary findings indicate the presence of recurrent themes among disaggregate minority physician racial/ethnic groups' responses. Significant variation exists between responses from disaggregate minority physician racial/ethnic groups and non-minority physicians. Results imply that open-ended methods of data collection are essential to gaining knowledge about ways cultural dissimilarities between disaggregate minority racial/ethnic groups affect communication and satisfaction. Understanding more about cultural dissimilarities is necessary for: improving data collection quality; recruiting and retaining minority physicians; and reducing healthcare disparities among minorities.

Few organizational communication studies examine the organizational aspects influencing career satisfaction specifically among non-white cultures in the medical physician population. This study examines minority physicians' perceptions of extrinsically controlled work environment factors in comparison to their white counterparts. Three research questions were analyzed from a 17-question survey tool to measure: physician satisfaction levels with autonomy over medical decision-making; autonomy over non-medical workplace decisions; and hospital cost containment efforts. These organizational variables have served as major points of discourse within the healthcare arena and they relate to the enigmatic nature of career satisfaction. Determined by the volume of respondents representing each race and ethnicity, five categories were selected for comparison: Asian/Pacific Islander, Indian/Pakistani, White/Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, and Black/African American. Participants that were surveyed included all physicians listed on the medical staff roster of a Southeastern, not-for-profit hospital group, regardless of status and medical specialty. The primary findings indicate that substantial variance exists among racial and ethnic subgroups regarding satisfaction with the dependent measures. Due to low numbers of minority health care physicians, previous studies have commonly measured physician job satisfaction aggregately, failing to differentiate cultural groups. Interestingly, when minority and non-minority groups were aggregately juxtaposed, no significant differences were reported in the data. However, when satisfaction was measured contrasting minority subgroupings with that of non-minority physicians, significant variations emerged from the data set. This study contributes to understanding better the organizational experiences of minority physicians in healthcare and the body of knowledge concerning minority health research as a whole.

INTRODUCTION: While mobile device use by physicians increases, there is an increased risk that errors committed while using mobile devices can lead to harm. This mixed-method study evaluates the effects of screen size on clinical users’ perceptions of medical application usability and safety when interfacing to critical patient information. In this research, two mobile devices are examined: iPhone® and the iPad®. METHOD: Eleven physicians and one nurse practitioner participated in a chart-review simulation using an app that was an end-point to an electronic health record. Screen-recording, video-recording and a think-aloud protocol were used to gather data during the simulation. Additionally, participants completed Likert-based questionnaires and engaged in semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: A total of 105 usability, usefulness and safety problems were recorded and analysed. A strong preference was found for the larger screen when reviewing patient data due to the large quantity of data and the increased display size. The smaller device was preferred due to the devices portability when participants needed to remain informed when they were away from the point of care. CONCLUSION: There is an association between screen size and the perceived safety of the handheld device. The iPad was perceived to be safer to use in clinical practice. Participants preferred the iPad® because of the larger size, not because they thought it was safer or easier to use. The iPhone® was preferred for its portability and its usefulness was perceived to increase with greater distance from the point of care. / Graduate