2024 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Janet Guo¹, Senay Gokcebel¹, Parneet Grewal², Sasha Alick-Lindstrom³, Christa O'hana Nobleza⁴, Doris Kung⁵, Suma Shah⁶, Halley Alexander⁷, Natasha Frost⁸, Kamala Rodrigues⁹, Sarah Durica¹⁰, Seema Nagpal¹¹, June Yoshii-Contreras¹², Katherine Zarroli¹³, Padmaja Sudhakar¹⁴, Chen Zhao¹⁵, Sol De Jesus¹⁶, Deborah Bradshaw¹⁷, Nicole Brescia¹⁷, Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer¹⁸, Laura Tormoehlen¹⁹, Laurie Gutmann²⁰, Sneha Mantri²¹, Ailing Yang²², Annie He³, Cynthia Zheng²³, Mark Fiecas²³, Julie Silver²⁴, Alyssa Westring²⁵, Jane Allendorfer²⁶, Sima Patel²³, Neishay Ayub²⁷
¹Brown University, ²Medical University of South Carolina, ³UT Southwestern Medical Center, ⁴Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, ⁵Baylor College of Medicine, ⁶Duke University Medical Center, ⁷Wake Forest Baptsit Health, ⁸University of Wisconsin Department of Neurology, ⁹Stanford VA, ¹⁰University of Oklahoma, ¹¹Stanford Cancer Center, ¹²The Neurology Center of Southern California, ¹³University of Florida-Jacksonville, ¹⁴University of Kentucky, ¹⁵UC Davis, ¹⁶Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, ¹⁷SUNY Upstate, ¹⁸Cleveland Clinic, ¹⁹Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, ²⁰University of Indiana, ²¹Duke University, ²²BIDMC, ²³University of Minnesota, ²⁴Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, ²⁵DePaul University, ²⁶U of Alabama At Birmingham, Neurology, ²⁷Brown Neurology

Objective:

To quantify the prevalence and predictors of burnout among academic neurology faculty across the United States (US).

Background:

Burnout can lead to impaired clinical judgment and is prevalent among all physicians. Neurology is one specialty with high rates of burnout and low satisfaction with work–life balance.

Design/Methods:

A standardized survey design utilizing the abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory was performed from December, 2020 to March, 2022. Faculty from nineteen academic neurology departments in the US were included. Demographic, career, compensation, equity, domestic circumstances, parental leave, and burnout data were collected as part of the Women in Neurology Collaborative Study (WINCS). Statistical analysis was performed using R version 4.2.1.

Results:

Among the 318 neurology faculty participants, 192 (60.4%) identified as women. Approximately 36.5% (n=116/318) of respondents reported experiencing moderate to high levels of burnout. High burnout rate was linked with higher rates of clinical hours (p<0.001). Women had a higher proportion of reported emotional exhaustion (70.4% women vs 40% men, p<0.001). Among women, single women (7.5%, n=24) reported lower burnout (p=0.007). Among men, high academic rank (p=0.037), presence of leadership title (p=0.022), and more research hours worked (p=0.041) were associated with decreased risk of burnout. Independent predictors of low burnout include professor rank (p=0.005) and being 15-20 years post-graduation (p=0.03) after adjusting for other factors.

Conclusions:

High burnout rates (36.5%) among academic neurologists may be associated with many factors including clinical time, academic rank, leadership status, number of post-graduate years, and marital status. Female faculty experienced higher levels of emotional exhaustion than male faculty. Neurology programs may consider measures aimed at reducing burnout in the future and focusing on early career women faculty who seem to be at highest risk.