The "Fourth Mission": The Time Commitment of Anesthesiology Faculty for Management Is Comparable to Their Time Commitments to Education, Research, and Indirect Patient Care.

Abstract

Academic anesthesia departments have management responsibilities (e.g., coordinating sedation, directing the operating rooms [ORs], informatics, ongoing professional performance evaluation, staff scheduling, and workroom inventory management). For each of the 64 faculty, a survey sampled 10 weekdays and 4 weekend days of professional activity over N=56 days. Faculty time in managerial activities was 126% of time spent on education, 107% of time spent in research, and 112% of time spent on mandatory indirect clinical support (e.g., fire safety training). The 95% lower confidence limits calculated using Fieller's theorem were 107%, 89%, and 91%, respectively. Corresponding bootstrap limits were 107%, 89%, and 90%, respectively. Thus, although our College of Medicine tripartite mission includes clinical care, education, and research, administrative activities constitute a "fourth mission" of our department.