Does the need for professional competencies change during the physician's career? – A Finnish national survey

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

Different models for defining physician competency areas have been used. The goal of this study was to explore how Finnish physicians perceive the need for different competency areas in their work. Three competency dimensions were identified with factor analysis: Medical knowledge, Management skills and Interpersonal skills. The need for competencies varied according to age, gender, specialty and position.

Table 1.  Loadings for the three factor-solution and correlations between three factors

	Factor
	Management skills	Interpersonal skills	Medical knowledge	Communality
Managing work processes	0.81		0.22	0.74
Managing one's own work	0.59	0.31	0.28	0.52
Economical skills	0.51			0.27
Computer skills	0.46		0.40	0.39
Interpersonal skills		0.94	0.21	0.95
Collaboration	0.32	0.69	0.29	0.65
Health advocacy	0.30	0.37	0.25	0.29
Managing information	0.35	0.20	0.73	0.70
Acquiring new knowledge	0.21		0.69	0.53
Medical knowledge		0.22	0.46	0.26
Eigenvalue	4.4	1.1	1.0
Percentage of variance	43.6	11.4	10.2
Correlations between factor scores	1
Interpersonal skills	0.037*	1
Medical knowledge	0.175*	0.063*	1

Note. Primary loading values are given in bold; the secondary loadings are shown only if they exceeded 0.20.

*p < 0.01.

Table 2.  Mean (99% confidence interval), ANOVA significance analysis for differences and effect sizes (η²) for the experienced need for the three competency factors in different groups

				Management skills			Interpersonal skills			Medical knowledge
	N	% male	Mean age	Mean		η^2	Mean		η^2	Mean		η^2
Sex
Male	4835		48.8	−0.01	(−0.03 to 0.03)		−0.19	(−0.23 to −0.15)		−0.14	(−0.17 to −0.10)
Female	7019		44.6	0.00	(−0.02 to 0.03)		0.13	(0.10 to 0.15)		0.09	(0.07 to 0.12)
Difference between sexes						0.000			0.026*			0.018*
Speciality
General practice	1348	41.5	51.3	0.19	(0.14 to 0.24)		0.15	(0.10 to 0.21)		0.01	(−0.05 to 0.06)
Paediatrics	444	31.8	49.9	0.13	(0.03 to 0.23)		0.19	(0.11 to 0.27)		0.05	(−0.06 to 0.14)
Obstetrics and gynaecology	461	24.9	50.9	0.06	(−0.05 to 0.16)		0.11	(0.01 to 0.21)		0.01	(−0.09 to 0.12)
Psychiatry	901	32.4	50.7	0.05	(−0.02 to 0.12)		0.38	(0.32 to 0.44)		−0.32	(−0.40 to −0.24)
Medical group of specialities	2446	49.8	49.7	0.06	(0.01 to 0.10)		−0.15	(−0.21 to −0.10)		0.08	(0.03 to 0.12)
Surgical group of specialities	1422	61.0	49.1	−0.01	(−0.07 to 0.05)		−0.13	(−0.20 to −0.06)		−0.12	(−0.18 to −0.06)
Other specialities	587	42.8	51.5	0.39	(0.32 to 0.47)		0.010	(0.01 to 0.18)		−0.01	(−0.09 to 0.08)
Not specialised	4245	32.8	39.3	−0.17	(−0.21 to −0.14)		−0.04	(−0.08 to −0.00)		0.06	(0.02 to 0.09)
Difference between specialities						0.034*			0.025*			0.017*
Position
Leading position	2117	58.7	52.3	0.28	(0.24 to 0.32)		−0.03	(−0.08 to 0.02)		−0.08	(−0.12 to −0.03)
Performing position	9737	36.9	45.0	−0.06	(−0.08 to −0.04)		0.01	(−0.02 to 0.03)		0.02	(−0.01 to 0.04)
Difference between positions						0.022*			0.000			0.002*

Note. Highest values (mean >0.2) are given in bold, and the lowest values (mean <0.2) are given in italic.

*p < 0.01.

Figure 1. Factor score means by ages (99% confidence limits).