Abstract
BackgroundIncreasing the number of primary care physicians is critical to overcoming the shortage of healthcare providers. Primary care physicians are increasingly called upon to address not only medical concerns but also behavioral health needs and social determinants of health which requires ongoing research and innovation. This paper evaluated scholarly productivity of faculty in tenure versus non-tenure tracks in primary care roles, defined as family medicine, internal medicine, internal medicine/pediatrics and pediatrics.MethodsThe study included physician faculty in the clinical departments of Brody School of Medicine serving between the 2014–2015 and 2018–2019 academic years. Department, track, and rank at the beginning of each academic year (e.g., 2014–2015) were correlated with having any publications in the following calendar year (e.g., 2015), as determined from a search of the Scopus database.ResultsA total of 1620 observations and 542 unique faculty were included in the analysis. As of 2018–2019, 19% percent of primary care faculty were either tenured or on tenure track, as compared to 41% of faculty in other departments (p < 0.001). Primary care departments were also disproportionately staffed by junior faculty (60% as compared to 48% in other departments; p = 0.087). The proportion of faculty with any publications was significantly higher for faculty on the tenure track compared to those not on the tenure track (34% vs. 14%, p < 0.001).ConclusionsAcademic productivity was lower among non-tenure-track physician faculty, as measured by publication in peer-reviewed journals. This was exacerbated among faculty in primary care departments, who were also more likely to hold non-tenure-track appointments. The loss of tenure-track positions disproportionately impacts scholarly activity in primary care and may be limiting progress in care-oriented research. Findings suggest that providing non-tenure faculty the time and resources to be involved in research, in addition to their clinical work, as well as access to research collaborators and mentors can promote scholarly activity among this group.
Highlights
Increasing the number of primary care physicians is critical to overcoming the shortage of healthcare providers
Primary care physicians hired into positions that are focused on clinical care may be too overwhelmed with the growing needs of clinical care to participate in increasing scholarship in this area
Eleven clinical departments were represented, with departmental size and proportion of faculty on the tenure track summarized for the 2018–2019 academic year in Table 1 (Internal Medicine and Pediatrics were each split between primary care and subspecialist faculty)
Summary
Increasing the number of primary care physicians is critical to overcoming the shortage of healthcare providers. Primary care physicians are increasingly called upon to address medical concerns and behavioral health needs and social determinants of health which requires ongoing research and innovation. Increasing the number of primary care physicians is critical to overcoming the shortage of health care providers in clinics and hospitals [1]. Primary care physicians are increasingly called upon to address patients’ medical concerns and behavioral health needs and social determinants of health. A further limitation of this need-driven approach focused on the provision of clinical care is a potential lack of attention to physicians who engage in primary care research that would advance the field and disseminate innovations in practice. Advances in primary care are likely to remain under-studied and localized, rather than being disseminated through scholarly channels
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