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. 2023 Jul 3;6(7):e2323872.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.23872.

Workforce Attrition Among Male and Female Physicians Working in US Academic Hospitals, 2014-2019

Ya-Wen Chen  1   2 , Claudia Orlas  1   3 , Tommy Kim  2   4 , David C Chang  1   2 , Cassandra M Kelleher  1   3
Affiliations

Workforce Attrition Among Male and Female Physicians Working in US Academic Hospitals, 2014-2019

Ya-Wen Chen et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Erratum in

  • Clarification Added to Methods.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Sep 5;6(9):e2334513. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.34513. JAMA Netw Open. 2023. PMID: 37698870 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Importance: Retaining female physicians in the academic health care workforce is necessary to serve the needs of sociodemographically diverse patient populations.

Objective: To investigate differences in rates of leaving academia between male and female physicians.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study used Care Compare data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for all physicians who billed Medicare from teaching hospitals from March 2014 to December 2019, excluding physicians who retired during the study period. Data were analyzed from November 11, 2021, to May 24, 2022.

Exposure: Physician gender.

Main outcome and measures: The primary outcome was leaving academia, which was defined as not billing Medicare from a teaching hospital for more than 1 year. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted adjusting for physician characteristics and region of the country.

Results: There were 294 963 physicians analyzed (69.5% male). The overall attrition rate from academia was 34.2% after 5 years (38.3% for female physicians and 32.4% for male physicians). Female physicians had higher attrition rates than their male counterparts across every career stage (time since medical school graduation: <15 years, 40.5% vs 34.8%; 15-29 years, 36.4% vs 30.3%; ≥30 years, 38.5% vs 33.3%). On adjusted analysis, female physicians were more likely to leave academia than were their male counterparts (odds ratio, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.23-1.28).

Conclusions and relevance: In this cohort study, female physicians were more likely to leave academia than were male physicians at all career stages. The findings suggest that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts should address attrition issues in addition to recruiting more female physicians into academic medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.. Subgroup Analyses of Gender Differences in Attrition Rates
Markers represent adjusted odds ratios (AORs), and horizontal lines represent 95% CIs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Redesigning the Future of Medicine.
    Liu L, Obuobi S, Gulati M. Liu L, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Jul 3;6(7):e2323831. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.23831. JAMA Netw Open. 2023. PMID: 37459104 No abstract available.

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