8. LEARNERS, TEACHING, & EDUCATION SYSTEMS FACTORS: PEDIATRIC FACULTY PERSPECTIVES OF IMPACT ON WELLBEING

Abstract

Introduction Many pediatricians report burnout and low professional fulfillment. While it is assumed that academic pediatricians garner professional fulfillment from teaching, little is known about the perceived intersection of teaching and pediatrician wellbeing. Methods In June 2018, pediatric faculty focus groups were conducted at a university-based pediatrics department, addressing work-related factors with greatest impact on wellbeing. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and de-identified. All excerpts about learners and teaching were manually coded using the constant comparative method. Results Participants included 47 faculty in 8 focus groups, of whom 55% were female. A small number of comments described positive impact of teaching on wellbeing. “It's a great privilege to be around young learners that are energized to extract as much as they possibly can...[teaching] helps sustain most of us.” A larger subset described negative impact of teaching. Four themes emerged: (1) Perceived institutional devaluation of teaching as an academic pursuit, “If teaching doesn't get you promoted, I don't know what should... I know that it really stresses me out just thinking about it and having to come up with things to do that count because what I'm already doing, I don't think counts enough.” (2) Perceived decline in trainee work ethos, “The patients have to be cared for. You're the one answering [pages], and [the residents are] gone. Then they don't have the ownership that you may have had during your training.” (3) Perceived disparity in work hour protection and wellness support for faculty as compared to trainees, “I would love to have work-hour restrictions and all those sorts of things... I'm not angry or bitter at [trainees], but... everyone just makes the assumption that you're in charge and you've already figured out how to cope with your 80-hour work weeks.” (4) Perceived burdens of teaching, “There's fewer and fewer faculty involved with teaching because of a lack of rewards and more administrative [workload] when you do teach, like the 20-page evaluations of a medical student you spend an hour with.” Conclusion Teaching may be both protective and detrimental to pediatrician wellbeing. Future studies should further explore teaching-related factors that contribute to a sense of fulfillment and burnout to ensure faculty remain engaged and fulfilled in their work.