Rush Medical University Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
West J Emerg Med. 2022 Sep 15;23(5):678-683. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2022.6.54144.
The pandemic has been difficult on physicians, with two fifths of doctors in one survey reporting that their mental health is now worse than before the pandemic. It is likely that a significant proportion of these physicians are parents of children necessitating childcare, as approximately 32% of the US workforce has someone in their household under the age of 14. We sought to study the impact of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on physician parents in academia. Our goal was to investigate the intersection of professional and personal challenges, as well as perceived impact on domestic life and professional development secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using Survey Monkey, we developed a 37-question survey to address the aim of this study. Questions were grouped into four categories: demographics; impact on childcare; impact on care; and impact on mental health/wellness. Most of the questions were multiple choice with a few fill-in-the-blank options to allow participants to provide additional information related to their experiences as physicians during the pandemic. A link to the survey was disseminated via email to physicians at our home institution, Rush University Medical Center (Chicago), via our own intra- and interdepartmental communications, We used private social media accounts such as Facebook physician groups to reach out to physicians at other academic medical centers. Survey responses were voluntary and collected anonymously over an eight-week period, without identifiable data. Inclusion criteria included any physician identifying themselves as working full or full or part time in an academic facility in the US and caregivers for children <18 years.
Survey respondents were mostly female (83.2%), practicing in the Midwest (61.2%), and ranked as assistant professor (59.5%). The majority of respondents had two children (65.1%) who were <11 years in age (85.6%). Most respondents worked full time with 72.8% working over 50% clinically. Childcare was disrupted for 171 of 232 respondents (73.7%); 62.9% struggled with balancing work with childcare; 81.9% worried often or very often about fulfilling their responsibilities. A vast majority, 210 of 232 respondents (90.5%) had some degree of concern about feeling overburdened by their roles. More than half (57.3%) worried that their professional advancement was impacted by the pandemic, and 53.9% considered making adjustments to their clinical workload/. Over half (51.6%) thought that increased domestic responsibilities impacted their professional advancement.
In the survey, which was completed primarily by early-career women physicians practicing in a variety of specialties and geographic regions, we noted that childcare disruption amidst the pandemic was extremely prevalent. The majority of respondents reported full-time equivalent work; thus, it is reasonable to assume that significant workloads and limitations in remote work in combination with childcare constraints resulted in significant burden. A large number felt the challenges were negatively impacting their professional development and felt overburdened by their various roles.
疫情给医生带来了很大的困难，一项调查中有五分之二的医生表示，他们的心理健康现在比疫情前更差。很可能这些医生中有相当一部分是需要照顾孩子的父母，因为大约 32%的美国劳动力中有人在 14 岁以下。我们试图研究 2019 年冠状病毒（COVID-19）大流行对学术界医生父母的影响。我们的目标是研究专业和个人挑战的交叉点，以及 COVID-19 大流行对家庭生活和专业发展的影响。
我们使用 Survey Monkey 开发了一个 37 个问题的调查，以解决本研究的目的。问题分为四类：人口统计学；对儿童保育的影响；对护理的影响；以及对心理健康/健康的影响。大多数问题是多项选择，有几个填空选项，允许参与者提供与大流行期间作为医生的经历相关的额外信息。我们通过电子邮件将调查链接分发给我们所在机构的 Rush 大学医学中心（芝加哥）的医生，通过我们自己的内部和部门间通讯，我们还使用私人社交媒体账户，如 Facebook 医生群体，联系其他学术医疗中心的医生。调查回复是自愿的，在八周内匿名收集，没有可识别的数据。纳入标准包括任何自我认同为全职或全职或兼职在美国学术机构工作的医生，并照顾<18 岁的儿童。
调查对象主要为女性（83.2%），在中西部（61.2%）工作，助理教授（59.5%）。大多数调查对象有两个孩子（65.1%），年龄<11 岁（85.6%）。大多数调查对象全职工作，其中 72.8%的人临床工作超过 50%。232 名受访者中有 171 名（73.7%）的儿童保育受到干扰；62.9%的人在平衡工作和儿童保育方面有困难；81.9%的人经常或非常担心无法履行自己的责任。绝大多数，232 名受访者中有 210 名（90.5%）对自己的角色感到负担过重有一定程度的担忧。超过一半（57.3%）的人担心他们的职业发展受到疫情的影响，53.9%的人考虑调整他们的临床工作量。超过一半（51.6%）的人认为增加家庭责任会影响他们的职业发展。
在这项调查中，主要由早期职业女性医生完成，他们从事各种专业和地理区域的工作，我们注意到疫情期间儿童保育中断非常普遍。大多数受访者报告的是全职等效工作；因此，可以合理地假设，大量的工作量和远程工作的限制，加上儿童保育的限制，导致了很大的负担。许多人认为这些挑战对他们的职业发展产生了负面影响，并且感到自己的各种角色负担过重。
