Burnout among Radiation Oncology Providers and Staff in a Large Academic Center

Abstract

3.80; p Z 0.0007); there was no significant difference for assistant professorship (p Z 0.067) nor associate professorship (p Z 0.348). The overall mean h-index for all faculty was 17.64 +-16.89. For junior faculty (n Z 532), mean h-index was 8.21 +-6.57. For associate professors (n Z 244), mean h-index was 18.46 +-11.45, and for full professors (n Z 215) the mean h-index was 40.05 +-18.37. Citation-based activity differences between junior faculty and associate professor and between associate professor and full professor were statistically significant (p<0.0001). The overall mean h-index was 19.35 +-17.86 for men (n Z 668) and 14.11 +-14.05 for women (n Z 323); this difference was statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The majority of academic radiation oncologists are assistant professors; fewer than 5% are underrepresented minorities. Men comprise more than two-thirds of the workforce. While there is no gender difference in achieving assistant professorship and associate professorship, men are significantly overrepresented at the full professor (by 78%) and departmental chair (by 280%) levels in academic radiation oncology. The average radiation oncologist at a comprehensive cancer center has published more than 17 manuscripts cited at least 17 times; the average full professor has published 40 manuscripts cited at least 40 times each, compared to the average junior faculty member who has published 8 manuscripts cited at least 8 times each. Contrary to previous findings comparing male and female residents, the difference in academic productivity by gender among faculty was statistically significant. These findings provide objective data to assess the radiation oncology academic workforce and provide a useful benchmark to measure change going forward.

Using patient flow analysis with real-time patient tracking to optimize radiation oncology consultation visits

“…Virtual care platforms could also be expanded to improve the pre- and post-consult experience by shifting the administrative, low-value components of the visit to a more comfortable patient setting that does not require travel to the clinic and its associated costs. As alluded to previously, these findings also have implications for provider burnout, shown recently to be experienced by up to 56% of radiation oncology clinical staff, with reported drivers including workload control, job stress, inadequate time to document, and EMR time spent at home [ 16 ]. Reducing the time spent in clinic through reducing cycle time and minimizing disruptions to the scheduling process may improve these and other job-related stress factors.…”