Laryngology Postgraduate Workforce Trends and Job Satisfaction: A Survey of US Academic and Nonacademic Laryngologists.

Objective: To determine postgraduate job selection, percentage of career movement, factors influencing these decisions, and job satisfaction of laryngologists within academic and nonacademic fields.

Study design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Nonacademic and academic laryngology practices across the United States.

Methods: A 21-question survey including the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JS-Q) was electronically administered between October and December 2023. Student's t test and logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis.

Results: There were 134 (49.26%) complete responses, including 99 (64 males, 34 females, 1 undisclosed) laryngologists in the academic cohort and 35 (25 males, 9 females, 1 undisclosed) in the nonacademic cohort. No association was found between year of initial employment and probability of choosing an academic job (coefficient of variation = 0.02, odds ratio = 1.02, P = .56). A higher percentage of physicians transfer from nonacademics to academics (22.86%) than vice versa (5.05%, P = .002). Factors including lifestyle, pay, leadership, and research support influence career movement and satisfaction. There was higher job satisfaction in the nonacademic group in all domains of JS-Q except for Training and Development (3.81 vs 3.84, P = .81).

Conclusion: Over time, the rate of laryngologists pursuing nonacademic versus academic positions has been stable, despite the increasing number of laryngologists. Career satisfaction is high in both academic and nonacademic laryngologists, although higher in nonacademic. Despite this, a higher percentage of physicians transfer from nonacademic to academic positions than the converse. Factors including lifestyle, pay, lack of leadership support, and research support influence career movement and satisfaction.