P2C138: Improving Wellness Among Women Neonatologists

Background: Promoting wellness is key in combating physician burnout, which affects up to one-third of neonatologists. Women are at particular risk due to moral distress and challenges with work-life integration. Women in Neonatology (WiN) of the AAP Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine supports the professional development, career advancement, advocacy and wellness of its members. In this study, we aimed to assess the subjective feeling of wellness, to evaluate utilization of wellness programs, and to determine the factors that contribute to professional and personal wellness among WiN.

Methods: The Wellness sub-committee of WiN implemented a survey between August to October 2022 using Qualtrics software to assess 1) demographic factors, 2) practice/institutional wellness program availability and attendance, 3) factors that contribute to feelings of wellness in the professional and personal lives of women neonatologists. The survey consisted of 28 questions which included multiple choice and open-ended questions. For open-ended questions, respondents were asked to list 3 factors that they would change to improve their wellness in their professional and personal lives. These free-text responses were categorized into themes. Percentages were calculated as the number of responses for an option or theme divided by the total number of responses for the question.

Results: Demographic information for the 326 respondents is in Table 1. Physician Wellness Programs were present in 57% of practices/institutions, but many WiN did not know when activities occurred or were unable to attend (50% and 40%, respectively). Among those who attended, social activities, professional development opportunities, and meetings to increase physician support were found to be most helpful. When queried about subjective feeling of wellness, 64% and 81% of respondents reported feeling well more than 50% of the time in their professional and personal lives, respectively. In multiple choice questions, most common factors that contribute to professional wellness were flexible work schedules, helping patients, and fair compensation. In open ended questions most common themes to improve professional wellness were scheduling, appropriate administrative support and staffing (Figure 1). Factors that detracted from wellness were clinical workload/acuity, night call and weekend responsibilities, perceptions of needing to respond to emails, texts, or social media during non-work hours, and administrative workload.

Conclusion: Although most WiN feel well personally, only 2/3 have feelings of well-being professionally most of the time. Our findings suggest that focusing on flexible work scheduling, appropriate administrative support and staffing, fair compensation, and limitations on professional duties outside of business hours may contribute most to wellness among women neonatologists. Future strategic planning and advocacy work addressing these factors are urgently needed to improve job satisfaction, productivity, and work-life integration, and to ensure the retention of neonatologists in the workforce.