Middle age is typically a difficult passage for many professionals. It is a developmental phase involving the mourning of lost opportunities and the acceptance of one’s limits. One also reflects on his or her identity, takes note of regrets, and reevaluates how one will apportion time in the future.—Glen Gabbard, MD1
Hospital medicine is a relatively young specialty, but we are growing up, with many hospitalists now firmly in the middle phase of their careers. In 1999, 15% of our peers had been hospitalists for more than five years; by 2010, that number had grown to 50%.2 As the ranks of hospitalists grow older, we are faced with questions reflecting a life station marked by a little more wisdom, a few more gray hairs, and an occasional reflection on the legacy we will leave.
Drybye and colleagues recently released further analysis on a survey that had been previously reported, shedding new light on mid-career physician satisfaction and burnout and revealing important implications for hospital medicine.3 The study looked at responses to the Maslach Burnout Inventory for physicians from a range of specialties who had been in practice 10 years or less (early career), 11 to 20 years (mid-career), and 21 years or more (late career).
The study demonstrated that while early and late career have their challenges, middle career is a particularly difficult time for physicians. Mid-career physicians had the lowest satisfaction with their specialty choice and their work-life balance and the highest rates of emotional exhaustion and burnout. Strikingly, mid-career physicians were more than twice as likely as those in early and late career to plan to leave the practice of medicine for reasons other than retirement in the next 24 months.
What does this mean for hospital medicine? Because the survey findings are drawn from multiple specialties, we must use caution in extrapolating the results to hospitalists; however, if hospitalists are leaving the specialty mid-career, a more pressing problem may exist for hospital medicine than for other specialties. Why? First, the specialty has grown so rapidly over the last 15 years that it has been difficult to generate a sufficient supply of physicians to meet the demand. If a large number of mid-career hospitalists leave the specialty, our field may be stuck in a state of “arrested development” without the sufficient presence of mature clinicians. Second, effective hospitalists possess “system” skills that are learned on the job, so seasoned hospitalists often play an integrative and problem-solving role within the hospital. Third, there could be a downward spiral of career satisfaction in the specialty if onlookers like trainees and stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem see hospitalists as dissatisfied and disengaged. Will the promise of hospital medicine be fulfilled?
In an accompanying editorial, Spinelli suggests three principles for physician well-being, which hospitalist programs would do well to consider:4
- Elevate well-being metrics to the same level of importance as financial, quality, and patient satisfaction metrics. (Place such metrics on the organizational dashboard.)
- Design system and care processes that include intentional plans for physician and staff wellness. (Redesign of care models and workflows should consider physician and staff wellness.)
- Adopt a robust set of self-care strategies for those experiencing burnout.
SHM’s Role
SHM has taken up the issue of hospitalist career satisfaction on a number of occasions over the years, initially engendered by field observations of the stressful nature of hospitalist work and a 2001 study reporting that 25% of hospitalists were “at risk” of burnout and 13% were “burned out.”5 Subsequently, SHM released a white paper with a number of specific recommendations organized around a career satisfaction framework consisting of autonomy, reward/recognition, occupational solidarity, and connection with one’s professional and broader community.6