Leslie S. Jewett

FACTORS INFLUENCING CAREER CHOICE AND SATISFACTION IN PEDIATRICS

The “dissatisfied pediatrician syndrome” has been manifested in an extremely high career burn-out rate among pediatricians. This studys purpose was to cite factors which lead to career satisfaction and dissatisfaction or burn-out in pediatricians. METHODOLOGY: Pediatricians (87) surveyed in Washington, D.C. and at the fall 1983 AAP meeting career assessment exhibit (125) completed a questionnaire, the FIRO-B Scale, and Rezler Learning Preference Inventory. 63% were in practice, 32% in academics, and 5% in research or other. 73% were males; 27% were females. RESULTS: Many pediatricians, unrelated to career choice or satisfaction, reported feeling stressed and tense. Dissatisfying factors were: long hours, busy workloads, inadequate remuneration, stress, and malpractice threats. Academicians found the difficulty of balancing patient care, administration, research, and teaching responsibilities and the lack of support and time for research and teaching to be dissatisfying. Practitioners reported endless telephone calls, practice management, insecurity, routine work, limited time for research and teaching and lack of contact with peers to be dissatisfying. The time spent in patient care, teaching, administration, and research were found to significantly correlate with career satisfaction. Career profiles for pediatricians in practice and academics were predictable based on study results.

Meeting the Need for More Formalized Education in Paediatrics

The information explosion, the plethora of continuing medical education activities, the complexities and fragmentation of graduate and postgraduate training and the need for cost containment and faculty development all contributed to the decision to create an office of paediatric medical education (OPME) at the Childrens Hospital National Medical Center. To plan and prepare strategies for this office, we surveyed all 150 moderate-to-large US paediatric programmes to elicit information about the educational organization of paediatric departments, including administration, staffing, funding, responsibilities, and level of involvement; and the current needs in paediatric medical education. The results suggest that there is a trend towards formalizing education in paediatrics. Thirty-eight per cent (33) of those responding reported OPMEs, with most (86 per cent) of the OPMEs evolving within the last decade and 50 per cent within the last five years. Respondents cited as a priority the need for better organization of medical education to improve the quality of teaching and learning and thus achieve higher quality and more cost-effective health care.