[Career Satisfaction of Medical Residents in Portugal].

Introduction: The satisfaction with the medical profession has been identified as an essential factor for the quality of care, the wellbeing of patients and the healthcare systems' stability. Recent studies have emphasized a growing discontent of physicians, mainly as a result of changes in labor relations.

Objectives: To assess the perception of Portuguese medical residents about: correspondence of residency with previous expectations; degree of satisfaction with the specialty, profession and place of training; reasons for dissatisfaction; opinion regarding clinical practice in Portugal and emigration intents.

Material And Methods: Cross-sectional study. Data collection was conducted through the "Satisfaction with Specialization Survey", created in an online platform, designed for this purpose, between May and August 2014.

Results: From a total population of 5788 medical residents, 804 (12.25 %) responses were obtained. From this sample, 77% of the responses were from residents in the first three years. Results showed that 90% of the residents are satisfied with their specialty, 85% with the medical profession and 86% with their place of training. Nevertheless, results showed a decrease in satisfaction over the final years of residency. The overall assessment of the clinical practice scenario in Portugal was negative and 65% of residents have plans to emigrate after completing their residency.

Conclusion: Portuguese residents revealed high satisfaction levels regarding their profession. However, their views on Portuguese clinical practice and the results concerning the intent to emigrate highlight the need to take steps to reverse this scenario.