50 / 240
these findings. One recent study found that 23.4% of surgeons
felt that their commitment to childrearing slowed their career
advancement.
25
Perhaps lacking sense of control and flexibility
as childrearing encroaches upon professional demands and
ambition increases the likelihood of burnout in this population.
Our study suffers from a few limitations. First, the 49%
response rate, although comparable to similar published
studies,
5,25
opens the possibility of response bias. It may
also have decreased the power of our study to detect other
correlations between burnout and the risk factors of interest.
Additional selection bias may have been introduced by lim-
iting our survey to alumni, who may have a tendency to
embellish their survey responses so as to not appear inferior
to their former faculty mentors. Third is the self-reported
nature of the gathered data, which may not reflect each par-
ticipant’s actual behavior. Last, the cross-sectional design of
the survey prohibits our ability to determine cause-and-
effect relationships and the potential direction of causality.
Despite these limitations, we believe that the data presented
here may serve to further enhance our understanding of the
complex interplay of factors (both personal and profes-
sional) leading to physician burnout. Further study is
needed to determine where best to direct efforts to reduce
the incidence of burnout in physicians.
Conclusion
Most practicing otolaryngologists surveyed experience low
levels of burnout. Factors directly correlating with burnout
include number of hours worked per week and number of
children in the home. Inverse relationships were noted
between burnout and age, the number of years in practice,
and number of years married. There was no significant cor-
relation between practice setting and burnout. As these
study results were obtained through a survey of graduates of
a single otolaryngology program, they cannot be extrapo-
lated to represent the experience of all US otolaryngologists.
However, these findings may help practicing otolaryngolo-
gists understand and target potentially modifiable personal
and professional factors that contribute to burnout.
Author Contributions
Aaron M. Fletcher
, preparation of manuscript, interpretation of
data;
Nitin Pagedar
, preparation of manuscript, statistical analysis,
interpretation of data;
Richard J. H. Smith
, preparation of manu-
script, study design, interpretation of data.
Disclosures
Competing interests:
None.
Sponsorships:
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department
of Otolaryngology.
Funding source:
Departmental funding.
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