Gender – Clinician Well-Being Knowledge Hub

Age and Sex Differences in Burnout, Career Satisfaction, and Well-Being in US Neurologists

NAM — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 20:43:21 +0000

The following study contains a quantitative/qualitative analysis of survey responses from US neurologists. The purpose of the surveys was to examine age and sex differences in burnout, career satisfaction, and well-being. Questions in the survey covered personal and professional characteristics along with standardized instruments to measure burnout and career satisfaction. Results found higher rates of burnout and lower rates of career satisfaction in women than in men. The relationship of burnout with age combined with demographics of respondents was significant to this result. The differences in burnout, career satisfaction, and well-being by age and between men and women neurologists suggest that efforts to mitigate burnout would be most effective if they are personalized to reflect the physician’s age, career level, sex, and home life.

We Don’t Need Self-Care; We Need Boundaries

NAM — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 20:25:01 +0000

This op-ed from a female physician talks about the “faux self care” advice that women in medicine receive when they are burnt out. Women in medicine are often told to just get lunch, get a manicure, or do yoga but it ends up as an item on their to-do list that guilt trips them and doesn’t seem to solve any problems. This is because it is not actually self care. Self care is defined as the internal hard work of making decisions for yourself. However, for women in medicine, making these decisions is difficult, especially in a hyper-productivity oriented medical culture. She discusses the broken system that places the burden of improving resilience onto the individual and exonerates the system. She encourages setting boundaries as a form of self-care to counteract a system that will make doctors feel ashamed for reaching their limit.

Being a Doctor is Hard. It’s Harder for Woman

NAM — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 20:42:23 +0000

The following New York Times article highlights the combination of the unequal distribution of domestic labor and a physically and emotionally demanding profession with a lengthy training process that allows few, if any, breaks, as a major cause of burnout disparity between male and female medical residents. Gender bias against women within hospitals, both subtle and over, from patients and colleagues are similarly debilitating. As a result, female physicians are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as the general population, less likely to advance to full professorships, and earn significantly less than their male colleagues. Initiatives that may help with the larger cultural shift include a Stanford pilot program that allows physicians to “bank” hours spent mentoring others or serving on committees to be used as credits towards domestic labor, and placing more women in leadership and mentorship roles.

Unbalanced but Satisfied?

NAM — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 20:32:15 +0000

In the following article published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, Asha N. Shenoi examines her experience with “work-home interference” and its contribution to burnout. Shenoi discusses the dichotomy of feeling both satisfied with her career and exhausted with symptoms of burnout, while considering age- and gender-related differences in working style and expectations. Through accepting her life as it is with a certain level of chaos and unpredictability, Shenoi redefined her expectations towards a reasonable imbalance in life while achieving both fulfillment from work and support from family.

Work Stress Management for Women General Practitioners: An Evaluation

NAM — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 20:07:02 +0000

Published in Psychology, Health, and Medicine, this interventional study offered to female general practitioners in Australia included three 3-hour seminars for women GPs who had expressed interest in learning about stress management. The findings report significant reduction of both psychological distress and emotional exhaustion.

Gender-Based Differences in Burnout: Issues Faced by Women Physicians

NAM — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 18:52:24 +0000

Women now account for an increasingly large percentage of medical school students and practicing physicians, yet there is still a scarcity of research on how gender-related differences can affect clinician burnout and well-being. Recognizing gender-related differences is critical in designing effective strategies to improve clinician well-being and to identify, treat, and prevent burnout. This NAM Perspectives Discussion Paper examines how gender-related differences can manifest, and some strategies for ensuring well-being for all health professionals.

Differences in Mentor-Mentee Sponsorship in Male vs Female Recipients of National Institutes of Health Grants

NAM — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:59:43 +0000

This research letter, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, investigates gender differences in mentor-mentee sponsorship experiences. Distinct from the advisory role of a mentor, sponsorship describes advocacy on behalf of a high-potential junior person by powerful senior leaders that is instrumental for career advancement in academic medicine. Any and specific sponsorship experiences were commonly reported by men although no gender differences were observed for perceptions of the mentor’s use of influence to support the mentee’s advancement or bringing the mentee’s accomplishments to the attention of important people. The letter goes on to discuss possibile reasons for differences (i.e. less powerful mentors, less active requests for sponsorships, etc.).

Inequities in Academic Compensation by Gender: A Follow-up to the National Faculty Survey Cohort Study

NAM — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 19:06:20 +0000

A 17-year longitudinal follow-up of the National Faculty Survey was conducted with a random sample of faculty from 24 US medical schools. The study assessed the longitudinal patterns by gender in compensation, and to understand factors associated with these differences in a longitudinal cohort. Findings indicate that institutional actions to address these disparities should include both initial appointment and annual salary equity reviews, training of senior faculty and administrators to understand implicit bias, and training of women faculty in negotiating skills.

Second Annual Physician Compensation Report

NAM — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 19:04:41 +0000

The following report, conducted by Doximity, seeks to understand physician compensation to combat the growing shortage of US physicians. Drawing from over 65,000 licensed US doctors, this report focuses on the year-over-year trends in Physician compensation across Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the gap in pay between male and female physicians, and absolute physician compensation across specialty, state, region and gender.

Medicine Has An Unhealthy Gender Pay Gap

NAM — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 19:03:28 +0000

The following article, published in HuffingtonPost, addresses the gender pay gap among US physicians. The author combines her experience over the past two decades as a physician and educator, with existing research on pay gaps published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and Doximity to provide a comprehensive overview of both the causes and effects of gender pay gap in the healthcare system.