1 Department of Internal Medicine, The Mayo Clinic Arizona , Scottsdale, Arizona.
2 Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Mayo Clinic Arizona , Scottsdale, Arizona.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2018 May;27(5):584-589. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2016.6315. Epub 2018 Mar 12.
Inadequate work-life balance can have significant implications regarding individual performance, retention, and on the future of the workforce in medicine. The purpose of this study was to determine whether women physicians defer personal life decisions in pursuit of their medical career.
We conducted a survey study of women physicians ages 20-80 from various medical specialties using a combination of social media platforms and women physicians' professional listservs with 801 survey responses collected from May through November 2015. The primary endpoint was whether women physicians deferred personal life decisions in pursuit of their medical career. Secondary outcomes include types of decisions deferred and correlations with age, hours worked per week, specialty, number of children, and career satisfaction.
Respondents were categorized into deferred and nondeferred groups. Personal decision deferments were reported by 64% of respondents. Of these, 86% reported waiting to have children and 22% reported waiting to get married. Finally, while 85% of women in the nondeferment group would choose medicine again as a career, only 71% of women in the deferment group would do so (p < 0.0001). Physicians who would choose medicine again cited reasons such as career satisfaction, positive patient interactions, and intellectual stimulation, whereas those who would not choose medicine again reported poor work-life balance, decreasing job satisfaction, and insurance/administrative burden.
The results of this survey have significant implications on the future of the workforce in medicine. Overall, our analysis shows that 64% of women physicians defer important life decisions in pursuit of their medical career. With an increase in the number of women physicians entering the workforce, lack of support and deferred personal decisions have a potential negative impact on individual performance and retention. Employers must consider the economic impact and potential workforce shortages that may develop if these issues are not addressed.
工作与生活的不平衡会对个人绩效、保留率以及未来医疗领域的劳动力产生重大影响。本研究的目的是确定女性医生是否会为了追求自己的医学事业而推迟个人生活决策。
我们对来自不同医学专业的 20-80 岁的女性医生进行了一项调查研究，使用社交媒体平台和女性医生的专业名录组合，共收集了 2015 年 5 月至 11 月期间的 801 份调查回复。主要终点是女性医生是否会为了追求自己的医学事业而推迟个人生活决策。次要结果包括推迟的决策类型以及与年龄、每周工作时间、专业、子女数量和职业满意度的相关性。
受访者被分为推迟组和非推迟组。64%的受访者报告推迟了个人决策。其中，86%的人报告推迟生育，22%的人报告推迟结婚。最后，85%的非推迟组女性会再次选择医学作为职业，而只有 71%的推迟组女性会这样做（p<0.0001）。选择再次从事医学的女性医生引用的原因包括职业满意度、与患者的积极互动和智力刺激，而不再选择医学的女性医生则报告工作与生活平衡不佳、职业满意度下降以及保险/行政负担。
这项调查的结果对未来医疗领域的劳动力产生了重大影响。总体而言，我们的分析表明，64%的女性医生为了追求自己的医学事业而推迟了重要的生活决策。随着越来越多的女性医生进入劳动力市场，如果这些问题得不到解决，缺乏支持和推迟个人决策可能会对个人绩效和保留率产生负面影响。雇主必须考虑到如果这些问题得不到解决，可能会对经济产生影响并导致潜在的劳动力短缺。
