Creating a Faculty Development Office in an Academic Pediatric Hospital: Challenges and Successes

Abstract

Faculty in academic medical centers are challenged by demands for excellence and productivity in clinical care, research, and teaching. The increased competition for National Institutes of Health grants, the creation of new medical school curricula and residency competencies, and the multitude of quality and cost measures for clinicians have resulted in new stresses among academic faculty of all ranks. The expectations for productivity often conflict with the desire of young faculty to achieve a work-life balance and can jeopardize faculty “vitality.”1–3 The dramatic increase in women graduating from medical schools in the past 2 decades has resulted in increasing percentages of women at the lowest academic ranks but with only a modest change in the percentage of women at professorial rank, which is currently 16% across US medical schools.4 Although female scientists and medical faculty in general face a number of barriers related to childbearing and bias,5–7 the future of academic pediatrics is likely to be particularly affected because of the high percentage of women entering this specialty. As of 2003, 70% of pediatric residents and 63% of pediatricians who took the boards for the first time were women.6,8 In contrast, 37% of current pediatric subspecialists are women.8 In a survey of women faculty at Stanford in 2001–2002, McGuire et al7 found that the highest-ranked needs were for a flexible work environment without adverse consequences for women with children (including part-time appointments, child care, ability to attend school events, etc); a 3-month sabbatical from administrative and clinical duties to write grants and papers; mentoring; and administrative support for manuscript preparation. Indeed, the authors of 2 commentaries in Pediatrics recently called for significant changes to make pediatric careers more family-friendly9 and to provide part-time options, child care, flexibility … Address correspondence to Sarah Jean Emans, MD, Office of Faculty Development and Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, 300 Longwood Ave, LO 637, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: jean.emans{at}childrens.harvard.edu or ofd{at}childrens.harvard.edu