Background and objective:
Family doctors are the backbone of the Romanian health care system. As gatekeepers, they are the first point of contact for patients in need of preventive and curative health services. This research aims to provide an overview of their specific professional and personal needs and identify priority action areas.

Method:
WE COLLECTED DATA FROM 305 Family Doctors based on a 20 minutes self-administered online survey in June-July 2022. The sample was balanced by region and urbanization degree.

Results:
Overall, the family doctors rated their health as good and their work-life balance decent, and 83% of family doctors feel satisfied with their patient relationship. Nevertheless, these aspects tend to be eroded by the high frequency of stressful situations and by the administrative burden, both of them correlated (negatively) with their work satisfaction. We have identified four areas of priority based on the attributes that are important but generate high dissatisfaction among Family Doctors: (1) The importance given to Family Doctors in the health system; (2) The efficiency of current rules and regulations, with direct impact on the time spent on administrative tasks and the amount of work required; (3) The payment for the services performed; and (4) The relationship with the authorities: the usefulness and frequency of required reporting, and the feedback received.

Conclusion:
Family Doctors feel unheard and disrespected by the authorities, their job is pushed towards insignificance by the current laws while the existing rules and regulations generate a big deal of administrative burden. Initiating a real dialogue by the authorities would be a first step to improve existing situation.

Acknowledgments:
This research has received funding from Banca Comercială Romnă. We are grateful to the Association of Family Physicians Bucharest-Ilfov for their support.