Thomas Collins ^{1 *} , Tait Shanafelt ², Neha Purkey ³, Meenu Singh ⁴, Rania Sanford ⁵

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 10, Issue 2, pp. 279-295

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/18166

OPEN ACCESS   50 Views   24 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

Physician burnout is a national epidemic, with many dissatisfied and unfulfilled with their careers. This threatens an already strained healthcare system. Though numerous studies have explored these issues in medicine, data are lacking on what constitutes a successful medical career that is satisfying and fulfilling. We conducted 40 semi-structured, 50-minute interviews of physicians who had achieved the rank of professor in our school of medicine. The interviews centered on how participants defined success and what it took for them to achieve that in their careers. We used inductive content analysis to identify content categories around the topic of success and reviewed all transcripts to identify how participants discussed success in academic medicine. From these, we identified major themes that were synthesized into a new explanatory model of success in academic medicine. Our 40 physician-cohort discussed their perspectives of success and the contributors to it. Four major themes emerged and suggested that success in academic medicine 1) is individually defined; 2) involves making an impact; 3) is based on pursuit of personal passion; and 4) is not defined by traditional metrics of academic productivity. Some or all of these themes were articulated by all participants as being fundamental to their definition of success. Accomplished academic physicians defined success as finding personal meaning and “making an impact through one’s greatest passion.” Multiple participants stated traditional metrics of productivity do not define success. These findings may have significant implications on the epidemic of burnout among academic physicians.

Keywords: Physician, faculty development, career, success, passion

References

Citation