Faculty members dissatisfied with their sense of belonging are 7 times more likely to report intentions to leave their medical schools compared to those who feel they belong, according to a large cross-sectional study.
The study, which analyzed data from 15,915 faculty members across 26 U.S. medical schools, found that even those with neutral feelings about belonging were approximately 3 times more likely to report intent to leave than satisfied colleagues.
"Belonging is believed to be a critical component of workforce retention in medicine, including but not limited to physicians, and has been associated with intent to leave in various groups," researchers noted in JAMA Network Open, defining belonging as "a feeling whereby an individual believes they are a valued and fundamental part of their surroundings, including family, peer group, occupation, community, or cultural system."
The research team, led by Emily M. Silver, PhD, from the University of Chicago, and Katherine Balas, MS, from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), examined responses to the AAMC's StandPoint Faculty Engagement Survey (SFES) collected between March 2021 and June 2024.
The study highlighted significant disparities in belonging satisfaction across demographic groups. Women reported significantly less satisfaction with their sense of belonging compared to men, with this difference persisting across various racial and ethnic groups and department types.
Particularly concerning was the finding that "women identified with racial and ethnic [minorities] and in clinical departments not practicing patient care had higher odds of intent to leave when not satisfied with their belonging compared with men in the same groups," noted Silver and colleagues.
Faculty in clinical departments not involved in patient care reported the lowest levels of belonging satisfaction. Women in these departments who were dissatisfied with their belonging had more than an 8 times higher odds of intending to leave compared to their satisfied counterparts.
"Faculty retention is essential to a sustainable medical workforce. Identifying cohorts at risk of leaving their institutions provides an opportunity to proactively foster belongingness to retain faculty and optimize medical school recruitment investments," noted the researchers. Medical schools should "design and implement programs that enhance belonging," noting that such efforts could improve medical education, patient care, and scientific discovery.
While the study provides compelling evidence linking belonging satisfaction with retention intentions, the authors acknowledged limitations, including its cross-sectional design and focus on faculty who completed the SFES with belonging assessment at the department level. "Future work should include other cohorts and measures of belonging," they suggested.
Conflict of interest disclosures can be found in the study.
Source: JAMA Network Open