Association Between Vacation Characteristics and Career Intentions of US Physicians-A Cross-Sectional Analysis

To assess the association between physicians' vacation characteristics and career intentions.

This is a cross-sectional survey of a sample of US physicians between November 2022 and September 2023. Vacation days in the last year, inbox coverage, performance of patient-related work on vacation (WOV), intent to reduce clinical hours in the next 12 months, and intent to leave current practice in the next 24 months were assessed.

Of 5059 respondents, 2163 of 4537 (47.7%) reported fewer than 15 days of vacation in the last year, with 443 of 4537 (9.8%) taking 5 or fewer days. Nearly half (48.6%) reported not having full electronic health record inbox coverage on vacation. Most (72.0%) reported WOV, with 33.6% performing more than 30 minutes per day. On multivariable analyses adjusting for personal and professional characteristics, taking 15 or fewer days of vacation per year (odds ratio [OR], 1.37 [95% CI, 1.14 to 1.64]), absence of full inbox coverage (OR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.13 to 1.63]), and more than 30 minutes per day of WOV (OR, 1.50 [95% CI, 1.24 to 1.81]) were each associated with higher odds of intent to reduce clinical hours. Similarly, taking 15 or fewer days of vacation per year (OR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.00 to 1.41]), not having full inbox coverage (OR, 1.33 [95% CI, 1.12 to 1.57]), and more than 30 minutes per day of WOV (OR, 1.44 [95% CI, 1.21 to 1.72]) were each associated with higher odds of intent to leave current practice.

In this large, cross-sectional study, the number of vacation days taken, inbox coverage, and time spent on patient-related work while on vacation were each independently associated with career intentions. Organizational efforts to optimize these vacation characteristics may foster retention of physicians.