Effects of Department Type and Disability Status on Medical School Faculty Wellbeing

Faculty wellbeing impacts student learning and is a priority among medical schools, especially as a counterbalance to growing burnout. Previous researchers found differences in burnout by sex and race among clinicians, but not for faculty with disabilities. Accordingly, the purpose was to test the association between faculty's wellbeing, burnout, and control over workload and investigate differences in wellbeing attributed to department type and ability status.

The authors developed and administered a comprehensive wellbeing survey to University of Minnesota Medical School faculty, of whom 703 provided complete responses. The authors conducted two-way ANOVA followed by a post hoc analysis to test for differences in faculty wellbeing domains due to department type (basic sciences, nonsurgical, surgical, and two large departments of Medicine and Pediatrics) and disability status (yes, no). The authors also fitted a two-way ordinal model since burnout frequency and control over workload were assessed by one ordinal item each.

Wellbeing domains were positively correlated with control over workload but negatively associated with burnout. Faculty with disabilities reported less support from their work environment and meeting of their basic needs. Department type had a statistically significant impact on faculty's sense of basic needs, respect, and contribution. Multiple comparisons revealed faculty in basic sciences departments had higher scores within basic needs compared to the departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and surgical departments, who reported lower levels of respect as well. Results revealed department type and disability status affected the frequency of burnout, as faculty in basic sciences departments reported lower levels of burnout compared to other departments.

Results support disaggregating wellbeing by department and ability status for targeted interventions due to differences- notably among faculty with disabilities and surgical departments- in their assessment of basic needs, work environment, respect, and contribution. Results suggest revisiting interventions in these domains to account for lower reported wellbeing.