Practice patterns and career satisfaction in recent head and neck
oncology fellowship graduates: a cross-sectional survey
Abstract
Objective Examine the characteristics of recent head and neck oncology
(H&N) fellowship graduates and assess their current perceptions of
career alignment and satisfaction. Methods H&N fellowship graduates
from American Head & Neck Society (AHNS)-accredited programs between
2015 to 2020 were surveyed. Two-sample t-tests and analysis of variance
tests were used to determine the effect of respondents’ demographics,
fellowship characteristics, career preferences, and current practice on
their degree of career alignment with expectations and overall job
satisfaction. Results Fifty-eight fellowship graduates completed the
cross-sectional survey. Fifty-two of all respondents (89.7%) primarily
preferred an academic job, of whom 5 (9.6%) went into private practice.
Respondents in private practice, those treating general Otolaryngology
patients, or those who do not work with residents demonstrated
significantly poorer job alignment and career satisfaction compared to
those in academic medicine, those only treating H&N patients, or those
working with residents, respectively. Discussion The number of desirable
academic positions each year may be insufficient for graduating fellows.
By setting realistic career expectations, planning for a mixed scope of
practice, and integrating resident involvement into private practice
groups, H&N providers may ultimately find more fulfillment in their
work. These findings could be valuable to fellowship programs in
designing training and to future H&N fellows in their career planning.
Further studies with higher power would be warranted to identify other
indicators of H&N career satisfaction and ways to reduce physician
burnout.