Challenges in Medicine, Magnified by the Pandemic: A Dual Battle for Female Physicians

TL;DR

The pandemic worsened work-life challenges for female physicians, leading to job changes and schedule adjustments due to caregiving and workplace stress.

Contribution

This study empirically identifies pandemic-specific factors affecting female physicians' employment and work schedules.

Findings

43% of female physicians changed work schedules due to caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic.

17% of physicians changed jobs, citing poor work environment and lack of work-life balance as main reasons.

Specialties like obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, anesthesia, and pediatrics were most affected.

Abstract

Introduction: We aimed to understand how the pandemic impacted work hours and employment status of female physicians.

Methods: An anonymous survey of female physicians was distributed through social media and email lists from 12/2021 to 2/2022. Primary outcomes were changes in physicians’ work schedules and employment status. Analyses included descriptive statistics of closed-ended items and qualitative content analysis of open-ended responses.

Results: We restricted our analysis to four specialties: obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, anesthesia, and pediatrics (n=626). The majority (92%) of respondents had caretaking responsibilities; 43% changed work schedules to accommodate those responsibilities. Around 17% of physicians changed jobs. The most common reasons for job changes included: negative work environment, lack of work-life balance, burden of work, and lack of efforts to mitigate COVID-19.

Conclusion: The pandemic highlighted the need for flexibility, improvements in workplace culture, and financial incentives to increase retention.

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