The inpatient database as a technique to prevent junior faculty burnout

Junior faculty members beginning their careers in academic psychiatry are frequently assigned major clinical duties as directors of busy inpatient psychiatry units, leaving them little time or energy for research. The turnover in these positions is high and job dissatisfaction higher. This paper describes an inpatient database developed and used by the author as a clinical research tool to explore interesting questions about inpatient psychiatry and better integrate the academic and clinical service aspects of his junior faculty role.