WHEN IT COMES to work-life balance for hospitalists, the good news is that most physicians say they’re happy.
According to our most recent survey data, nearly three-fourths of adult hospitalists—71%—said they’re satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. Twelve percent of respondents said they’re dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with work-life balance, and 17% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
For those surveyed, work-life balance is even better for pediatric hospitalists, with 81% telling us they’re satisfied or very satisfied. It is also slightly better among adult hospitalists working in academic programs (76% rate themselves as satisfied or very satisfied). Among nonacademic adult hospitalists, work-life balance is slightly lower, with 66% saying they’re happy.
Here’s a look at other data on how successful hospitalists are in balancing their work and personal lives:
Work hours/patient volumes. Probably the biggest—and least surprising— trend in work-life balance for hospitalists is the impact that work hours and patient volumes have on hospitalists’ views.
Among physicians who have 10-14 patient encounters per shift, for example, 78% say they’re satisfied or very satisfied with work-life balance. For hospitalists with 18-20 encounters per shift, that figure drops to 65%. For those with more than 20 patient encounters per shift, that percentage falls to 61%.
We found similar trends with the number of monthly shifts. For hospitalists who work 14 shifts a month, 81% report being happy with their work-life balance. For those working more than 20 shifts a month, that number plummets to 48%.
Years of experience. Experience in the specialty also seems to improve physicians’ happiness. Among hospitalists with five to nine years on the job, for example, 67% are happy with their work-life balance. For hospitalists with 15-19 years on the job, that percentage rises to 75%.
Type of employer. Among physicians working for national hospitalist management companies, 63% report being satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. For hospitalists with multispecialty and primary care practices, that figure is 83%.
Schedules. One work-life dissatisfier for hospitalists may be their schedules. Among hospitalists with seven-on/seven-off, 67% are satisfied or very satisfied. For those working some other type of day shift, by comparison, that number is 76%.
Here’s a look at how happy adult hospitalists are with their work-life balance.
• Very satisfied: 34.3%
• Satisfied: 36.7%
• Neither: 17.1%
• Dissatisfied: 9.80%
• Very dissatisfied: 2.2%
For data on how physician compensation is affected by bonuses, experience, shift work and location, check out our overview on hospitalist pay.
