Chokshi Nikunj K, Simeone Dianne M, Chari Ravi S, Dorey Fred, Guner Yigit S, Upperman Jeffrey S
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA.
Surgery. 2009 Sep;146(3):462-8. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2009.02.015. Epub 2009 May 21.
An academic surgeon's workweek is divided among patient care, administrative duties, education, and research. The time available for research activities may change as a surgeon's career evolves. We sought to determine involvement of academic surgeons in research and to assess how this research endeavor was affected by demographic and workplace characteristics.
We constructed a survey to explore the following 4 domains: demographics, time allotment, research activities, and effects of stressors. We distributed the survey to members of the Society of University Surgeons. In addition to performing descriptive statistics, we defined an active researcher as someone with a funding source who devoted 15% or more work hours to research. Using this definition, we performed statistical analyses to assess the significance of independent variables on research. Stress factors were evaluated on a Likert scale with responses ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely).
We received 314 completed surveys (response rate 23%). Of the respondents, 274 (87%) stated that they were involved in some kind of research activity; however, only 143 (46%) were active researchers. Using univariate logistic regression analysis, younger respondents and surgeons who practiced for more than 10 years were more likely to be active researchers (odds ratio [OR]: 1.93, confidence interval [CI]: 1.51-2.46 and OR: 2.06, CI: 1.64-2.59, respectively). Males were less likely than females to be active researchers (OR: 0.32, CI: 016-0.67); however, by multivariate analysis, we found that the "years in practice" of an active researcher was the most significant predictor of research activity, whereas age and sex were not. In regard to stress, most respondents reported scores of 1-3 for all 7 stressors, which is consistent with minimal to moderate stress.
Academic surgeons are involved actively in research; however, this involvement decreases as other professional responsibilities increase. To optimize the surgical research environment, departments should invest time and resources in young investigators to prevent them from decreasing their research activities.
学术外科医生的工作周分配在患者护理、行政职责、教育和研究之间。随着外科医生职业生涯的发展，可用于研究活动的时间可能会发生变化。我们试图确定学术外科医生参与研究的情况，并评估这项研究工作如何受到人口统计学和工作场所特征的影响。
我们构建了一项调查，以探索以下四个领域：人口统计学、时间分配、研究活动和压力源的影响。我们将该调查分发给大学外科医生协会的成员。除了进行描述性统计外，我们将积极研究者定义为有资金来源且将15%或更多工作时间用于研究的人。使用这个定义，我们进行了统计分析，以评估自变量对研究的显著性。压力因素采用李克特量表进行评估，回答范围从1（完全没有）到5（极其严重）。
我们收到了314份完整的调查问卷（回复率为23%）。在受访者中，274人（87%）表示他们参与了某种研究活动；然而，只有143人（46%）是积极研究者。使用单变量逻辑回归分析，年轻受访者和从业超过10年的外科医生更有可能成为积极研究者（优势比[OR]：1.93，置信区间[CI]：1.51 - 2.46；OR：2.06，CI：1.64 - 2.59）。男性成为积极研究者的可能性低于女性（OR：0.32，CI：0.16 - 0.67）；然而，通过多变量分析，我们发现积极研究者的“从业年限”是研究活动最显著的预测因素，而年龄和性别则不是。关于压力，大多数受访者对所有7个压力源的评分在1 - 3分之间，这与最小到中度压力一致。
学术外科医生积极参与研究；然而，随着其他专业职责的增加，这种参与度会降低。为了优化外科研究环境，各部门应投入时间和资源培养年轻研究者，以防止他们减少研究活动。
