(PO-007) Career Satisfaction of Female Health Care Educators: A Retrospective Study

Author: Claire Liles, D.O.
Author: Kelton Stewart, D.D.S., MS – Indiana University School of Dentistry
Submitter: Claire Liles, D.O.

Objectives: Educators are essential for developing healthcare professionals, but faculty turnover remains high due to suboptimal job satisfaction, especially among female faculty. While medical and dental schools are graduating female practitioners at record rates, there is a disproportionate rate of females entering and remaining in academia. Assessing job satisfaction among female educators is critical to identifying strategies to increase retention and decrease female faculty attrition.

Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based Qualtrics survey was disseminated to faculty at Indiana University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. Survey content was stratified into 7 domains: general demographic information, overall satisfaction, research satisfaction, leadership and professional development, work environment, distance/virtual learning due to COVID-19, and overall assessment.

Results: The survey was sent to 2,854 faculty, with 1209 [41.7%] being female. Of this sample, 163 female participants completed the survey. Four surveys were incomplete, giving a sample size of 159 (13.2% response rate). There were 139 medical and 20 dental respondents respectively. Categorical variables were tested using Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests and continuous variables were tested using Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Dental educators were less stressed (p < 0.01) and experienced a higher sense of appreciation at work (p=0.04), while medical educators had higher satisfaction with student to faculty ratios (p < 0.01) and research facilities (p < 0.01). Medical educators were more satisfied with the overall re-opening and transition to virtual after the COVID-19 shutdown (p < 0.01), whereas dental educators were more satisfied with how emergency care was handled during the shutdown (p < 0.01). Both were equally dissatisfied with compensation (p=0.22). Finally, 1 out of 3 female faculty stated they would not choose to re-enter academia as a career.

Conclusion: Job satisfaction is influenced by many variables, especially among female educators. Institutions must be proactive with assessing influential factors and employing strategies to improve satisfaction and female faculty retention in healthcare academia.