Mentorship, Productivity, and Promotion Among Academic Hospitalists: Comparisons and Changes Over the Last 15 Years

Hospital medicine is the fastest growing medical specialty in the USA, with more than 50,000 hospitalists currently practicing. As academic hospitalist groups face increasing clinical demands, these obligations may impede faculty engagement with traditional academic pursuits such as scholarly productivity, mentorship, and career advancement. Despite the field's growth, rates of promotion and academic output among hospitalist faculty remain lower than other fields within internal medicine.

This study aims to assess the landscape of mentorship, scholarly productivity, and promotion within academic hospital medicine.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted across academic hospital medicine programs in the USA. The survey instrument was adapted from the 2008 study and expanded to address current perceptions of promotion, mentorship, and associated barriers.

Faculty development leaders and academic hospitalist faculty from 17 academic hospital medicine groups participated, representing a broad geographic distribution in the USA. In total, 319 out of 1160 invited hospitalists responded (27.5%). Gender and rank data for non-respondents were collected from participating sites to ensure representativeness.

The survey assessed mentoring availability and satisfaction, work satisfaction, barriers to academic promotion, intent to leave, academic background, and demographics. Additional measures included perceptions of the promotion process, mentoring relationships, and obstacles to mentorship.

A small minority of academic hospitalists have attained the rank of professor, and nearly half lack any publications. Hospitalists who identified as Clinicians were least likely to have scholarly productivity and least likely to understand or feel supported in the promotion process. Respondents frequently reported insufficient time or personal responsibilities as barriers to participating in academic endeavors.

Academic productivity and advancement remain significant challenges within hospital medicine, compounded by high clinical demands. Utilizing innovative mentorship models and increasing support surrounding promotion are critical to fostering academic success in this rapidly evolving specialty.