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BMC Health Services Research
Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Burnout Syndrome | Research

Impact of burnout and professional fulfillment on intent to leave among pediatric physicians: The findings of a quality improvement initiative

Authors: R. Thomas Collins II, Aric Schadler, Hong Huang, Scottie B. Day, John A. Bauer

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2024

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Abstract

Background and Objectives

Physician burnout is rampant, and physician retention is increasingly hard. It is unclear how burnout impacts intent to leave an organization. We sought to determine how physician burnout and professional fulfillment impact pediatric physicians’ intent to leave (ITL) an organization.

Design and Methods

We performed 120, 1:1 semi-structured interviews of our pediatric faculty and used the themes therefrom to develop a Likert-scale based, 22-question battery of their current work experience. We created a faculty climate survey by combining those questions with a standardized instrument that assesses burnout and professional fulfillment. We surveyed pediatric and pediatric-affiliated (e.g. pediatric surgery, pediatric psychiatry, etc.) physicians between November 2 and December 9, 2022. We used standard statistical methods to analyze the data. An alpha-level of 0.05 was used to determine significance.

Results

A total of 142 respondents completed the survey, 129 (91%) were Department of Pediatrics faculty. Burnout was present in 41% (58/142) of respondents, whereas 30% (42/142) were professionally fulfilled. There was an inverse relationship between professional fulfillment and ITL, p < 0.001 for the trend. Among those who were not professionally fulfilled, the odds ratio of ITL in the next three years was 3.826 [95% CI 1.575–9.291], p = 0.003. There was a direct relationship between burnout and ITL, p < 0.001 for the trend.

Conclusions

Among pediatric physicians, professional fulfillment is strongly, inversely related with ITL in the next three years. Similarly, burnout is directly related with ITL. These data suggest a lack of professional fulfillment and high burnout are strong predictors of pediatric physician turnover.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Impact of burnout and professional fulfillment on intent to leave among pediatric physicians: The findings of a quality improvement initiative
Authors
R. Thomas Collins II
Aric Schadler
Hong Huang
Scottie B. Day
John A. Bauer
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10842-2

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