Work Engagement as a Measure of Wellness in Pediatric Hospital Medicine

Background: Literature on wellness in pediatrics is limited and there are no published data specific to pediatric hospital medicine (PHM). Existing literature on wellness focuses largely on physician burnout, but wellness also includes positive traits like work engagement. We sought to assess work engagement and burnout in pediatric hospitalists nationwide. Methods: The study utilized a survey including demographic data, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17), and the Mini-Z burnout measure. The survey recruited participants via the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Hospital Medicine Listserv. Results: Totally, 432 of 3,085 (14%) respondents completed the survey with mean total UWES score of 4.36 and 36% reported burnout. As expected, higher work engagement scores correlated with decreased rates of burnout (P < 0.0005). Interestingly, work engagement varied by gender and career stage, with lowest scores found in women in early to mid-career (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In this study we evaluated the wellness of pediatric hospitalists, a group that has not been previously studied, using a combination of burnout and work engagement measures which, while validated, had not been previously used to evaluate physician wellness. This study suggests that wellness interventions could be most effective if targeting women in early to mid-career. Further study is needed to determine causes of decreased work engagement and consider appropriate interventions. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2020;9(4):105-109 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp399