• Annals of surgery · Mar 2023

    Establishing the Essential Role of Household Extenders for Surgeon Wellbeing.

    • Catherine L Mavroudis, Regan W Bergmark, Jennifer Waljee, Elizabeth Wick, Heather Yeo, Christopher Wirtalla, and Rachel R Kelz.
    • Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
    • Ann. Surg. 2023 Mar 1; 277 (3): 412415412-415.

    ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between a change in household support during the Covid-19 pandemic and surgeon stress.BackgroundThe hours and unpredictability of surgical practice often necessitate the employment of household extenders (eg, child caregivers) to maintain a safe home environment for surgeons and their families. The Covid-19 pandemic destabilized these relationships and provided an opportunity to reflect on the role that household extenders play in a surgical household.MethodsA multi-institutional telephone survey of surgeons practicing at five geographically diverse academic institutions was conducted (May 15, 2020-June 5, 2020). Surgeons were classified by change in household extenders (HE) during the pandemic (decrease, increase, no change, or none). The primary outcome was self-reported surgeon stress level. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the relationship between change in HE and surgeon stress, adjusting for training and relationship status, the presence of pets and children in the household, and study site.ResultsThe majority (182, 54.3%) of surgeons employed HE before the pandemic; 121 (36.1%) reported a decrease in HE during the pandemic, 9 (2.7%) reported an increase, and 52 (15.5%) reported no change. Stress scores varied significantly by change in HE group ( P = 0.016). After controlling for potential confounders, having an increase in HE was associated with a higher stress score (+1.55 points) than having no decrease in HE (P = 0.033), and having a decrease in HE was associated with a higher stress score (+0.96 points) than having no decrease ( P = 0.004).ConclusionsHousehold extenders play a vital and complex role in enabling the healthcare workforce to care of the population. Surgeons who experienced a change in household extenders reported the highest stress levels. We suggest that health systems should proactively support surgeons by supporting the household extender workforce.Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.