Received 12 July 2007; received in revised form 8 October 2007; accepted 8 October 2007. published online 11 January 2008.
Objective
To review the common roles that physicians pursue away from work and identify related challenges and potential solutions, so that individuals can develop a personalized plan for success in each of the areas.
Design
Literature review.
Setting
University-based and university-affiliated medical centers.
Patient(s)
No subjects were involved in this literature review.
Results of physician surveys and summaries of strategies for achieving work–personal life balance.
Result(s)
According to surveys of physicians in various specialties, a majority of physicians have high levels of job, marital, and parental satisfaction. However, professional and personal challenges faced by physicians include struggle with time management, lack of mentorship, and difficulty maintaining intimate relationships. Multiple potentially effective strategies have been described in the literature, including exerting control over hours worked, taking a long view of life that acknowledges the need for changing priorities over time, developing communication skills, seeking counseling services if needed that focus on physician relationships, and simplifying home life whenever possible.
Conclusion(s)
Although there are unique challenges in being a physician, partner, and parent, many of the professional challenges faced by physicians are common to many adults in the United States. Self-assessment may help individuals to clarify priorities and develop strategies that can lead to improved personal satisfaction.
fMayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minnesota
Reprint requests: Alicia Y. Armstrong, M.D., M.H.S.C.R., Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, CRC 1 East Room 1-E-3140, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 (FAX: 301-402-0884).
Supported, in part, by the intramural research program of the Reproductive Biology and Medicine Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Presented in part at the Society of Reproductive Endocrinology Fellows Retreat, Park City, Utah, August 2006 and as a workshop at the annual meeting of the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, January 2006.
R.J.A. is on the visiting speaker's bureau for Wyeth. V.B. has received a research report from IBSA. E.A.S. is a clinical trial investigator for Insightec; is a consultant for AMS, Bayer, Cytyc, Fallon Medical, Gynesonics, Innovus, Insightec, Lilly, Medstat/Thompson/GE, Quality Metrics, Schering AG, Smith and Nephew, the Society for Interventional Radiology, and United Healthcare; is an officer of the Fibroid Foundation; owns stock options in Gynesonics; and is a trustee of Berlex Foundation.
ABSTRACT