Rationale and Objectives
Work-life experience of physicians is a driver of work engagement vs. burnout. We
aimed to determine individual and institutional factors affecting work-life experience
of the clinical faculty at a large tertiary care academic medical center.
Materials and Methods
The Department of Radiology clinical faculty (n = 62) were surveyed electronically
in October 2022. Twenty-three questions, consisting of multiple choice, Yes/No, and
Likert scale ratings were administered to obtain demographic information and data
for life outside of work, life at work, and work-life integration for the prior 12
months. Work engagements in terms of clinical, research, administrative, and education;
work practices including engagement in extra work and remote work; life responsibilities;
and utilization of work-life balance strategies were analyzed for percentages and
differences in seniority levels and genders. Ratings of faculty work engagement and
life integration strategies were assessed utilizing a 1-5 Likert scale. Descriptive
statistics were utilized to report mean, standard deviation, median, Q1 and Q3 for
continuous measurements, while count and percentage for categories measurements. Comparisons
between seniority and gender categories were conducted using independent t-test or
Wilcoxon rank sum test depending on data normality assessed through histogram analysis.
Chi-square test was used to make comparisons for categorical data. When encountered
with small cell (category with <5 count), Fisher's exact test was used for 2 × 2 table
analysis and Freeman-Halton test was used for comparisons with more than two categories.
SAS 9.4 was used for the data analysis.
Results
Twenty-eight faculty (M:F = 17:11) responded to the survey (survey response rate 45%).
The vast majority of faculty reported working extra hours, with 40% working at least
10 hours extra per week. Total of 42.9% reported performing clinical work in the extra
hours worked. Total 70.4% of faculty had caregiver responsibilities and 64.3% reported
other individual stresses (e.g., financial, family/social, health-related), which
required consistent demand of time and effort. A total of 35.7% of faculty reported
not being able to balance competing life and work demands. A total of 21.4% respondents
reported not utilizing any individual healthy lifestyle choices on a consistent basis
over the prior 12 months. Protected time off work and remote work were perceived as
effective strategies to provide adequate work-life balance; however, remote work engagement
was relatively minor and 35.7% bought back vacation. Total 53.6% respondents reported
a level 4 (out of 5) rating for work being meaningful and being positively engaged
in their work.
Conclusion
Institutions should invest in providing the infrastructure for physician work-life
balance and in facilitating healthy lifestyle choices for physicians.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 11, 2023
Accepted:
January 10,
2023
Received in revised form:
January 8,
2023
Received:
November 2,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
