Resident Physician and Medical Academic Faculty Burnout

Physician burnout finds its roots in both undergraduate and graduate medical education and has emerged as an important cause of academic faculty turnover. Recognition of the need for resiliency training has led to the development and implementation of wellness programmes throughout the country and world. This chapter examines the causes and potential solutions of combating resident physician and academic faculty burnout in medical education. The authors reviewed current literature on wellness programmes in medical education, including both traditional and curricular approaches and provide a template for creating a well-rounded wellness programme to promote resident physician and academic faculty wellness.

Changes in Pediatric Faculty Burnout During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVES To examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated workflow changes, such as deployment on pediatric faculty burnout in an early epicenter of the pandemic. We hypothesized burnout would increase during the COVID-19 surge. METHODS We conducted serial cross-sectional surveys of pediatric faculty at an academic, tertiary-care children’s hospital that experienced a COVID-19 surge in the Northeastern United States. Surveys were administered pre-surge (February 2020), during the surge (April 2020), and postsurge (September 2020). The primary outcome was burnout prevalence. We also measured areas of worklife scores. We compared responses between all 3 survey periods. Continuous variables were analyzed by using Student’s t or Mann–Whitney tests, and categorical variables were analyzed by using χ2 or Fisher’s exact test, as appropriate. RESULTS Our response rate was 89 of 223 (40%) presurge, 100 of 267 (37%) during the surge, and 113 of 275 (41%) postsurge. There were no differences in demographics, including sex, race, and academic rank between survey periods. Frequency of burnout was similar in all 3 periods (20% to 26%). The mean scores of emotional exhaustion improved during the surge (2.25 to 1.9; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no changes in pediatric faculty burnout after a COVID-19 surge. Emotional exhaustion improved during the COVID-19 surge. However, these findings represent short-term responses to the COVID-19 surge. Longer-term monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 surge on pediatric faculty burnout may be necessary for health care organizations to mitigate burnout.

Academic capitalism and faculty burnout: evidence from the United Arab Emirates

In this paper, we investigate the factors that affect burnout of faculty, which we refer to as “academic fatigue”, in the context of the business professors in the highly competitive and globalized market of the United Arab Emirates, which, unlike the United States, does not offer tenure to professors. It is the first paper to addresses an increasingly important area in the higher education sector in the UAE where increasing competition between institutions, the financial pressure on universities, and government funding cuts are having a knockdown effect on all parts of the higher education supply chain, including faculty. Data was collected from business faculty in a major UAE public university using a quantitative survey that designed based on Maslach Burnout Inventory MBI Educators Survey (MBI-ES). We find that while purely aspects of financial compensation (including satisfaction with pay, pay for performance sensitivity, and merit pay allocation) are not significantly related to faculty burnout, faculty satisfaction with the research and teaching workload reduces burnout significantly. Our results do not support the academic capitalism paradigm in a strict financial sense, but rather in a holistic sense that incorporates non-financial compensation. Key Words: Academic Capitalism; Faculty Burnout; United Arab Emirates; Higher Education; depersonalization; stress; tenure.

Pharmacy Faculty Burnout: Cause for Concern that Requires Our Support and Use of Best Evidence

Recent attention has been afforded to the concept of burnout and other quality of worklife issues among pharmacy faculty, underscoring the importance of organizational culture, citizenship, collegiality, and support. Support comes from the larger academic institution, the college/school, and individual colleagues. Evidence points to reassurance of worth, guidance, and positive affirmation as being among the most salient factors in mitigating burnout of faculty, who are caught in the midst of increasing demands and higher administrative burdens. A supportive culture that reassures worth of individual faculty is not a unidimensional typology, but rather, is one that permeates through all components of a multifaceted and strong culture that encourages citizenship. There is a growing body of research and evidence on faculty burnout and related factors. This commentary calls for the use of such evidence in guiding policies, creating mentoring programs, and carrying out daily activities in much the same manner that scholars use the best available evidence in their own specific lines of inquiry in teaching and research. Article Type: Commentary

Faculty burnout and its relationship to social and institutional support

The purpose of this sequential explanatory study was to determine if there was a relationship between faculty burnout, social support, institutional support, or salary, as well as establish if any college at a regional public university in the Midwest was less burned out than the others. Participants (n = 111) completed a survey that contained qualifying as well as demographic questions, Maslach's Burnout Inventory, Cutrona and Russell's Social Provisions Scale, and the institutional support section of Conklin and Desselle's Multidimensional Work Satisfaction Scale. Social support in the form of guidance and reassurance of worth, as well as institutional support, were found to mitigate burnout. The College of Education, Health and Human Studies had a lower burnout score than other colleges. In semi-structured interviews with faculty, it was determined that personal accomplishment, as well as colleagues, department chairs, and deans who create a culture of support, can reduce burnout.

Relationship Between Physical Activity and Burnout Among University Faculty in Pakistan

Burnout can lead towards challenge in social interaction and physical ailments. This study sought to determine the relationship of physical activity with faculty burnout. A total of 254 faculty members were surveyed from three public sector universities of southern Punjab region of Pakistan. Physical activity and burnout were assessed using IPAQ short version and OLBI, respectively. Findings indicated a significantly negative relationship of total score of physical activity with disengagement, exhaustion, and total burnout score. Physical activity level (low, medium, high) was significantly negatively correlated with total burnout score and subscale of exhaustion. The negative relationship remained evident between total physical activity and burnout after controlling for age, gender, experience, and academic qualification in partial correlation analysis. In addition, it was observed that burnout increased and physical activity decreased with increased age and job experience. These findings suggest that the interventions dealing with faculty burnout may consider physical exercise as a priority to prevent faculty burnout. More priority needs to be given to the faculty members with higher age and job experience.

Resident Physician and Medical Academic Faculty Burnout

Physician burnout finds its roots in both undergraduate and graduate medical education and has emerged as an important cause of academic faculty turnover. Recognition of the need for resiliency training has led to the development and implementation of wellness programmes throughout the country and world. This chapter examines the causes and potential solutions of combating resident physician and academic faculty burnout in medical education. The authors reviewed current literature on wellness programmes in medical education, including both traditional and curricular approaches and provide a template for creating a well-rounded wellness programme to promote resident physician and academic faculty wellness.