Leaders' Perspectives on Resources for Academic Success: Defining Clinical Effort, Academic Time, and Faculty Support

Overview

Journal Perm J

Specialties General Medicine
Health Services

Date 2023 Dec 11

PMID 38073313

Authors

Madhusmita Misra

Grace C Huang

Anne E Becker

Carol K Bates

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: For academic promotion, clinical faculty are expected to excel in clinical care, teaching, and scholarship. Ensuring adequate protected time and resources to engage in scholarly work in the face of competing clinical responsibilities is critical. The authors examined academic leaders' perspectives across affiliate hospitals of a large medical school regarding the definition of clinical full-time effort and academic time, best practices to enable academic success, and barriers to faculty advancement.

Methods: Open-ended, semistructured, individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of clinical department and division heads. Interview data were examined to illuminate the range and commonalities in practices and to identify successful approaches.

Results: Interviews were conducted with 17 academic leaders across 6 affiliate hospitals. There was considerable variability in clinical full-time effort definition. "Academic time," more accurately characterized as "nonclinical time," was typically 1 day a week for nonshift specialties and mostly used for administrative work or completing clinical documentation. Certain departments were more explicit in designating and protecting time for academic pursuits; some had invested resources in intensive programs for academic advancement with built-in expectations for accountability. The impact of documentation burden was considerable in certain departments.

Discussion And Conclusion: Marked variability exists in time allocations for clinical and academic work, as well as in resources for academic success. This supports the potential value of establishing standards for defining and protecting academic time, motivating clinical faculty to engage in academic work, and building accountability expectations. Sharing best practices and setting standards may enhance academic advancement. Strategies to reduce documentation burden may enhance wellness.

References

Williams A, Reed B, Self M, Robiner W, Ward W . Psychologists' Practices, Stressors, and Wellness in Academic Health Centers. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2019; 27(4):818-829. PMC: 7220835. DOI: 10.1007/s10880-019-09678-4. View

Krueger P, White D, Meaney C, Kwong J, Antao V, Kim F . Predictors of job satisfaction among academic family medicine faculty: Findings from a faculty work-life and leadership survey. Can Fam Physician. 2017; 63(3):e177-e185. PMC: 5349738. View

Lewiss R, Silver J, Bernstein C, Mills A, Overholser B, Spector N . Is Academic Medicine Making Mid-Career Women Physicians Invisible?. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2019; 29(2):187-192. DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2019.7732. View

Tunc T, Kutanis R . Role conflict, role ambiguity, and burnout in nurses and physicians at a university hospital in Turkey. Nurs Health Sci. 2009; 11(4):410-6. DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2009.00475.x. View

Robinson R . Hospitalist workload influences faculty evaluations by internal medicine clerkship students. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2015; 6:93-8. PMC: 4330005. DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S77216. View

Buckley L, Sanders K, Shih M, HAMPTON C . Attitudes of clinical faculty about career progress, career success and recognition, and commitment to academic medicine. Results of a survey. Arch Intern Med. 2000; 160(17):2625-9. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.160.17.2625. View

Steele M, Fisman S, Davidson B . Mentoring and role models in recruitment and retention: a study of junior medical faculty perceptions. Med Teach. 2012; 35(5):e1130-8. DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2012.735382. View

Rao S, Ferris T, Hidrue M, Lehrhoff S, Lenz S, Heffernan J . Physician Burnout, Engagement and Career Satisfaction in a Large Academic Medical Practice. Clin Med Res. 2020; 18(1):3-10. PMC: 7153796. DOI: 10.3121/cmr.2019.1516. View

Pollart S, Novielli K, Brubaker L, Fox S, Dandar V, Radosevich D . Time well spent: the association between time and effort allocation and intent to leave among clinical faculty. Acad Med. 2014; 90(3):365-71. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000458. View

10.

Pollart S, Dandar V, Brubaker L, Chaudron L, Morrison L, Fox S . Characteristics, satisfaction, and engagement of part-time faculty at U.S. medical schools. Acad Med. 2014; 90(3):355-64. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000470. View

11.

Glasheen J, Misky G, Reid M, Harrison R, Sharpe B, Auerbach A . Career satisfaction and burnout in academic hospital medicine. Arch Intern Med. 2011; 171(8):782-5. DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.153. View

12.

Nassar A, Waheed A, Tuma F . Academic Clinicians' Workload Challenges and Burnout Analysis. Cureus. 2019; 11(11):e6108. PMC: 6901369. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.6108. View

13.

Shah D, Williams V, Thorndyke L, Marsh E, Sonnino R, Block S . Restoring Faculty Vitality in Academic Medicine When Burnout Threatens. Acad Med. 2017; 93(7):979-984. PMC: 6169302. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002013. View

14.

Rotenstein L, Holmgren A, Downing N, Bates D . Differences in Total and After-hours Electronic Health Record Time Across Ambulatory Specialties. JAMA Intern Med. 2021; 181(6):863-865. PMC: 7985815. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.0256. View

15.

Livingston-Rosanoff D, Park K, Alagoz E, Thibeault S, Gibson A . Setting Up for Success: Strategies to Foster Surgeons' Pursuit of Basic Science Research. J Surg Res. 2021; 268:71-78. PMC: 8678176. DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2021.06.035. View

16.

Van den Hombergh P, Kunzi B, Elwyn G, van Doremalen J, Akkermans R, Grol R . High workload and job stress are associated with lower practice performance in general practice: an observational study in 239 general practices in the Netherlands. BMC Health Serv Res. 2009; 9:118. PMC: 2720387. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-9-118. View

17.

Varpio L, Ray R, Dong T, Hutchinson J, Durning S . Expanding the Conversation on Burnout Through Conceptions of Role Strain and Role Conflict. J Grad Med Educ. 2019; 10(6):620-623. PMC: 6314365. DOI: 10.4300/JGME-D-18-00117.1. View

18.

Griesbach S, Theobald M, Kolman K, Stutzman K, Holder S, Roett M . Joint Guidelines for Protected Nonclinical Time for Faculty in Family Medicine Residency Programs. Fam Med. 2021; 53(6):443-452. DOI: 10.22454/FamMed.2021.506206. View

19.

Shanafelt T, West C, Sloan J, Novotny P, Poland G, Menaker R . Career fit and burnout among academic faculty. Arch Intern Med. 2009; 169(10):990-5. DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.70. View

20.

Girod S, Fassiotto M, Menorca R, Etzkowitz H, Wren S . Reasons for faculty departures from an academic medical center: a survey and comparison across faculty lines. BMC Med Educ. 2017; 17(1):8. PMC: 5223325. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-016-0830-y. View