The impact of organizational culture on professional fulfillment and burnout in an academic department of medicine

by Karen E. A. Burns, Reena Pattani, Edmund Lorens, Sharon E. Straus, Gillian A. Hawker Physician wellness is vital to career satisfaction, provision of high quality patient care, and the successful education of the next generation of physicians. Despite this, the number of physicians experience symptoms of burnout is rising. To assess the impact of organizational culture on physicia ns’ professional fulfillment and burnout, we surveyed full-time Department of Medicine members at the University of Toronto. A cross-sectional survey assessed: physician factors (age, gender, minority status, disability, desire to reduce clinical workload); workplace culture (efforts to create a c ollegial environment, respectful/civil interactions, confidence to address unprofessionalism without reprisal, witnessed and/or personally experienced unprofessionalism); professional fulfillment and burnout using the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index. We used multivariable linear regression t o examine the relationship of measures of workplace culture on professional fulfillment and burnout (scores 0–10), controlling for physician factors. Of 419 respondents (52.0% response rate), we included 400 with complete professional fulfillment and burnout data in analyses (60% ≤ age 50, 45% f emale). Mean scores for professional fulfillment and burnout were 6.7±1.9 and 2.8±1.9, respectively. Controlling for physician factors, professional fulfillment was associated with satisfaction with efforts ...
Source: PLoS One - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research