Session Information
Date: Monday, November 9, 2015
Session Type: ACR Poster Session B
Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM
Background/Purpose: Mentoring usually targets academic advancement in medicine, but it may also foster success in non-academic aspects of professional life, such as work-life balance. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) developed the ACR/CARRA Mentoring Interest Group (AMIGO) in 2011 to foster mentoring in pediatric rheumatology. We assessed pre-AMIGO measures of career satisfaction in pediatric rheumatology, including career aspirations, confidence with professional tasks, and self-reported burn-out.
Methods: Internet-based survey of US and Canadian pediatric rheumatologists in 2011, before AMIGO implementation.
Results: Respondents included 277 pediatric rheumatologists, estimated at >75% of pediatric rheumatologists in the US and Canada. Of 129 who responded to the question about their “ideal job,” 81% indicated that the ideal job included doing “primarily clinical work”; 61% reported it included “mentoring in clinic”; 57% reported “research,” 20% reported “mentoring in research,” and 5% reported “administration.” About 50% responded that they were likely to obtain their ideal job.
Of the198 who responded to questions about confidence in work-related tasks, most respondents stated they were quite/extremely confident about advocating for patients, contributing to educational programs and meeting clinical productivity goals (Table 1). Most reported being somewhat/slightly/not at all confident in accessing grant funding, working with industry, achieving work-life balance, advocating for themselves at work, and managing their practices (Table1). Of 190 who responded to questions about burn out, 31% reported burn out at work at least once a week.
Conclusion: Most pediatric rheumatologists feel confident about meeting their clinical and educational responsibilities but a significant proportion have concerns about their ability to obtain grants, work with industry, manage administrative aspects of their jobs and achieve work-life balance. Burn-out is reported by a substantial fraction. Follow up evaluations of AMIGO mentees will assess whether improved access to mentoring through AMIGO has helped to address these needs. Further exploration of reasons behind burnout and work-life balance concerns is warranted.
Table 1: Data on confidence among pediatric rheumatologists
|
|
Not confident at all |
Slightly/ somewhat confident |
Quite/ extremely confident |
N/A |
|
Meet goals for clinical productivity |
2 (1%) |
60 (30%) |
128 (63%) |
9 (5%) |
|
Advocate for patients |
2 (1%) |
29 (15%) |
158 (80%) |
9 (5%) |
|
Contribute to educational programs |
2 (1%) |
66 (33%) |
128 (64%) |
3 (1.5%) |
|
Keep track of teaching activities |
7 (4%) |
90 (43%) |
96 (48%) |
6 (3%) |
|
Access grant funding |
61 (31%) |
86 (43%) |
37 (19%) |
15 (8%) |
|
Work with industry |
52 (26%) |
82 (41%) |
28 (14%) |
37 (19%) |
|
Manage your practice |
27 (14%) |
76 (38%) |
60 (30%) |
36 (18%) |
|
Advocate for yourself at work |
18 (9%) |
105 (53%) |
76 (38%) |
|
|
Achieve success in your job (as defined by the person) |
7 (4%) |
87 (44%) |
105 (53%) |
|
|
Work-life balance |
19 (10%) |
111 (56%) |
66 (33%) |
2 (1%) |
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Moorthy LN, Schneider R, Riebschleger M, Muscal E, Klein-Gitelman MS, Eberhard BA, Ferguson PJ, Rouster-Stevens KA, Brunner HI, Prahalad S, Nigrovic PA. Pediatric Rheumatologists’ Perceptions of Career Satisfaction, Confidence in Fulfilling Their Roles, and Burn-out [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/pediatric-rheumatologists-perceptions-of-career-satisfaction-confidence-in-fulfilling-their-roles-and-burn-out/. Accessed .« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/pediatric-rheumatologists-perceptions-of-career-satisfaction-confidence-in-fulfilling-their-roles-and-burn-out/