Work-Life Balance and Career Experiences of Part-Time Versus Full-Time Faculty at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

INTRODUCTION

Part-time faculty are an important part of the academic medical workforce, comprising 11-21% of faculty in some institutions.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the part-time faculty experience at a single institution across four domains: work-life balance, work environment, leadership and advancement, and mentorship.

METHODS

Faculty from the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown University were invited to participate in an electronic survey. The authors compared responses between full-time and part-time faculty across the four domains.   Results: Survey response rate was 43% (437/1025). Of the 363 who answered the question about employment status, 333 (92%) were full-time and 30 (8%) were part-time. Part-time faculty were less likely to report forgoing personal activities for professional responsibilities, that work conflicted with personal life, that their division director took interest in their careers, and having a leadership position was important to them.

CONCLUSION

Part-time and full-time faculty reported significant differences in perception of work impact on personal life, division director support, and desire for leadership positions.