Abstract
Physician scientists in Japan are often too busy to be sufficiently involved in research work. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate their experiences negotiating with their superiors to improve their research environment and determine its relationship with psychological burnout. Among 1790 physician awardees of Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists in 2014–2015, 490 responded (response rate 27.4%) and 408 were eligible for analysis. Outcome measures included two negotiation experiences: for reduction of clinical duty hours/promotion opportunities and for increased space or equipment/increased research budget. The main explanatory variables were personal, patient-related, and work-related burnout measured by the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. The percentages of the above-mentioned two types of negotiations were 20–24% in women and 17–20% in men. Multivariable stepwise logistic regression analyses demonstrated that (1) the negotiation for reduction of clinical duty hours/promotion opportunities was significantly associated with physician scientists who had a short amount of weekly research time and high patient-related burnout score, and (2) the negotiation for increased space or equipment/increased research budget was significantly associated with older age, single status, and high personal and patient-related burnout scores. High burnout is related to negotiation experiences among physician researchers in Japan.
Highlights
Research conducted by physicians is indispensable for advancements in the quality of medicine because an original idea is usually embedded in daily practice
Personal burnout was higher in women than in men (p = 0.029), but the results for the other two burnout subscales and total scores were comparable between women and men (p = NS)
We found that a (1) negotiation to reduce clinical hours or to have opportunities for promotions was significantly associated with a shortage of protected time for research activities, higher levels of client related burnout (CBO) and three burnout subscales (TBO), and a unit increase of research budget; and (2) negotiation to have more spacious rooms or better equipment or to increase research budget was significantly associated with older age, single marital status, and higher levels of personal burnout (PBO) and CBO
Summary
Research conducted by physicians is indispensable for advancements in the quality of medicine because an original idea is usually embedded in daily practice. The share of papers on clinical medicine and basic life sciences from Japan has decreased since around the year 2000 [1]. Japan has only a 6.0% and 5.5% share (2015–2017) in the number of papers on clinical medicine and basic life sciences, respectively [1]. One reason for the decrease in the number of Japanese papers may be because the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) is no longer sufficient. KAKENHI has declined after peaking in 2011 (263,300 million yen in 2011 vs 228,600 million yen in 2018).
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