Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;134(3):570-578.
doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000000476.

Influence of training institution on academic affiliation and productivity among plastic surgery faculty in the United States

Katherine M Gast  1 , William M Kuzon Jr, Eric E Adelman, Jennifer F Waljee
Affiliations

Influence of training institution on academic affiliation and productivity among plastic surgery faculty in the United States

Katherine M Gast et al. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Educational processes that encourage a career in academic plastic surgery remain unclear. The authors' study aim was to examine the impact of training institution on the pursuit of a career in academic plastic surgery.

Methods: Academic plastic surgery faculty (n = 838) were identified through an Internet-based search of all 94 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency and fellowship training programs. Academic productivity was determined by number of peer-reviewed publications and Scopus h-index. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the correlation between attributes after adjusting for the clustering of surgeons within programs.

Results: In the United States, 39 percent of plastic surgeons in academic practice are trained in only 11 programs, 30 percent of faculty remained at training institutions, and 39 percent were affiliated with a private practice model. Faculty from frequently represented training programs were more likely to pursue fellowship training (OR, 1.32; 95 percent CI, 1.00 to 1.75), have higher h-indices (9.0 versus 5.4; p < 0.001), and have a greater number of peer-reviewed articles (46.6 versus 24.3; p < 0.001). Higher h-indices were correlated with male sex (7.1 versus 4.7; p < 0.001), fellowship training (7.3 versus 6.1; p < 0.05), and no private practice affiliation (5.2 versus 7.8; p < 0.001). Female surgeons represented 14.1 percent of academic plastic surgeons, were younger based on the median year of board certification (2005 versus 2000; p < 0.05), and were more likely to be on the tenure track (66.9 percent versus 57.2 percent; p < 0.05) and at the assistant professor level (73.1 percent versus 43.6 percent; p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Identification of educational processes that encourage a career in academic practice may improve resident mentorship and resident interest in academic plastic surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Herrera FA, Chang EI, Suliman A, Tseng CY, Bradley JP. Recent trends in resident career choices after plastic surgery training. Ann Plast Surg. 2013;70:694–697
    1. Pololi LH, Krupat E, Civian JT, Ash AS, Brennan RT. Why are a quarter of faculty considering leaving academic medicine? A study of their perceptions of institutional culture and intentions to leave at 26 representative U.S. medical schools. Acad Med. 2012;87:859–869
    1. Golub JS, Johns MM III, Weiss PS, Ramesh AK, Ossoff RH. Burnout in academic faculty of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. Laryngoscope. 2008;118:1951–1956
    1. Thakur A, Fedorka P, Ko C, Buchmiller-Crair TL, Atkinson JB, Fonkalsrud EW. Impact of mentor guidance in surgical career selection. J Pediatr Surg. 2001;36:1802–1804
    1. Pololi LH, Civian JT, Brennan RT, Dottolo AL, Krupat E. Experiencing the culture of academic medicine: Gender matters, a national study. J Gen Intern Med. 2013;28:201–207

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources