Empowering Voices: Cultivating a Supportive Network From the Women in Medicine and Health Care Symposium.

Description There are many studies, some discussed in this article, that recognize the numerous issues faced by women in medicine and the health care field. In response to the prevalence of these challenges, Riverside Community Hospital's General Medical Education department organized the second Women in Medicine & Healthcare Symposium on November 17, 2023. The symposium featured a panel of women leaders addressing challenges, such as work-life balance, maternity leave, fertility concerns, and family planning. Personal stories and studies on gender bias and infertility shed light on the shared experiences of women physicians. The positive response prompted Riverside Community Hospital to view the event as the first step in creating a supportive community.

Dual career in sport and non-sport work: Exploring experiences of North American professional female ice hockey players.

Grounded in role strain theory, this study explored the dual career experiences of North American female ice hockey players who were also involved in full-time non-sporting work, focusing on factors that produced and reduced their role strain. We interviewed ten professional ice hockey players who held full-time non-sport jobs at the time of their interview. Our reflexive thematic analysis revealed that the multitude of factors leading to role strain among professional female working-athletes were notably significant, spanning societal expectations and environmental complexities. The imposition of the superwoman persona, demanding excellence in both hockey and work roles, combined with inconsistent expectations from professional and athletic supervisors intensified stress and undermined well-being. The study's findings emphasize the need for robust support systems and adaptive strategies, such as effective communication, careful planning, and proactive self-care, which can mitigate these pressures. Furthermore, the athletes' narratives revealed a pressing call for empathy and flexibility from coaches, employers, and the broader sports community, suggesting that improvements in these areas could enhance the professional and personal experiences of these working-athletes. The findings provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by dual career female athletes, as well as current strategies aimed at supporting and enhancing their experiences. Furthermore, these results deepen our understanding of how professional female athletes in North America can achieve greater well-being by addressing the factors that produce and reduce role strain factors.

Challenges in Medicine, Magnified by the Pandemic: A Dual Battle for Female Physicians.

INTRODUCTION:  We aimed to understand how the pandemic impacted work hours and employment status of female physicians.  Methods: An anonymous survey of female physicians was distributed through social media and email lists from 12/2021 to 2/2022. Primary outcomes were changes in physicians' work schedules and employment status. Analyses included descriptive statistics of closed-ended items and qualitative content analysis of open-ended responses. RESULTS:  We restricted our analysis to four specialties: obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, anesthesia, and pediatrics (n=626). The majority (92%) of respondents had caretaking responsibilities; 43% changed work schedules to accommodate those responsibilities. Around 17% of physicians changed jobs. The most common reasons for job changes included: negative work environment, lack of work-life balance, burden of work, and lack of efforts to mitigate COVID-19.  Conclusion: The pandemic highlighted the need for flexibility, improvements in workplace culture, and financial incentives to increase retention.

Work-life balance and the psychosocial work environment in Finnish working life: The case of gender and family life stages.

BACKGROUND: Work-life balance is associated with many positive effects at multiple levels and demands increased research attention. In the international literature on work-life balance, the term "gendered life-course" has been used to describe the differences between men and women in work biographies. However, whether this term applies to the Nordic work context remains underexplored. OBJECTIVE: This study examined Finnish men's and women's subjective experience of the association between work-life balance and the psychosocial work environment (work demands and social support at work) across the life course, devoting special attention to family life stages encompassing the care of (young) children. METHODS: Data from the Quality of Work Life Survey 2018 were utilized to conduct binary logistic regression analyses (N = 3790). Separate analyses were conducted for men and women. RESULTS: A significant association between family life stage and high work-life balance was found for women but not for men in the Finnish working life. Women in family life stages involving the care of young, dependent children reported the lowest odds of high work-life balance. For both men and women, a positive association between social support at work and high work-life balance was found, while a negative association was found between work demands and high work-life balance. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of psychosocial factors in both the work and family settings for work-life balance. Further, the findings call for an expanded focus on gender equality, also including issues in unpaid work in addition to issues in paid work.

Labor shortage of physicians in rural areas and surgical specialties caused by Work Style Reform Policies of the Japanese government: a quantitative simulation analysis.

Objective: The Japanese government's physician workforce reform, which commenced in April 2024, introduced regulations on physicians' working hours. However, in areas facing physician shortages such as rural regions and surgical medical specialties, healthcare provision relies heavily on the extended working hours of each physician. The anticipated impact of this reform, when implemented, was significant. Materials and Methods: Using publicly available government data, we estimated the current working hours of physicians in various medical specialties in each prefecture across Japan. Subsequently, we calculated the ratio of surplus or deficit physicians when hypothetically assuming that all physicians adhered to the regulatory upper limit of 58.4 working hours per week nationwide. Results: Assuming that all physicians work to the regulated maximum, there would be a shortage of doctors in various medical specialties across Japan, such as surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and emergency medicine. Geographically, shortages of doctors are observed in rural prefectures such as those in the Tohoku region, particularly in emergency- and surgery-related specialties, indicating a critical shortage of physicians in rural areas. Additionally, it has become evident that even in medical specialties with a calculated surplus of physicians nationwide, the margin of surplus is generally only a few percentage points. Conclusion: Currently, rural areas and surgical medical specialties in Japan have limited leeway in the physician workforce, and the strict application of workforce reform may lead to a severe shortage of physicians in these areas. It is noteworthy that as similar reforms may subsequently be implemented in other countries, analogous challenges would arise. Thus, the implementation of workforce reform requires a flexible approach to minimize its negative effects, which widen the existing disparity in the workforce.

Impact of metamorphoses from desk to E-commute - an acumen of professionals: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The deadly pandemic COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. Due to worldwide lockdown, economy was severely compromised. Everyone was in fear of the consequences that would be faced. Many unprecedented changes happened because of this pandemic. People confined themselves at home to maintain social distancing and mitigation of risk factors. This posed many challenges to the individuals or work force with, and many times the work was compromised. Objectives: To explore the current and changes in work pattern and to assess the overall quality of life of professionals working from home. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by circulating a structured questionnaire through online platform. A snowball sampling method was adopted. Totally, 520 respondents participated in this study. Results: Out of 520 participants, males accounted for 57.9% and 41.3% were females. Majority (45.8% males and 40.9% females) were engaged in the software or IT companies. A higher proportion of males were engaged in administration (6%), architecture (10%) and transportation (5.3%) sector, whereas more females were engaged in finance (10.7%) and law (3.3%) sector. 73.1% males worked for more than 12 hours a day in contrast to only 26.9% of females. As the working hours are reducing, the overall quality of life of the participants was increasing significantly with P = 0.008. For those with moderately increased work-life balance, near about half of the participants had overall quality of life between 50 and 75% (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In order to increase efficiency at work place, definite laws should be in place to protect the mental as well as overall well-being of professionals working from home. Elaborative research in this field is required in order to generalize the results.

Work-Life Balance.

There has been much written about work-life balance, both in nursing and other professions. Additionally, the term has taken on multiple definitions over the years, and it is often touted as central to an organization's mission. The Cambridge Dictionary defines work-life balance quite simply as "the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy." If it is such a simple concept, why is it such a dominant subject in nursing literature? This article explores the essential components of work-life balance, how health care organizations struggle to define it and differ in what they may promote on paper versus what they practice, and examine why work-life balance is crucial to nurses' overall well-being.

Exploring the global landscape of work-life balance research: A bibliometric and thematic analysis.

The research on work-life balance (WLB) published in journals with a Scopus index between 2011 and 2022 is carefully examined in this work. Our research attempts to clarify the evolution and trends in WLB research and the importance of publications that Scopus indexes. After analyzing 2717 research articles, we found that WLB publications have a significant annual growth rate of 14.71 %, which suggests that the trend continues to grow. Significant changes are seen, with 1888 papers produced between 2017 and 2022 highlighting a notable increase in interest in the field. With 1608 papers, social sciences account for the majority of WLB research. With 54 publications, Griffith University (Australia) is the most affiliated institution. With 30 papers, the "Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom" became the primary source of financing. The most prolific author, with nine publications, is Lingard H. At the same time, co-citation analysis reveals 168 co-cited authors. The United States (USA), the United Kingdom (U.K.), and Australia (A.U.) are the top three producing nations. A thematic analysis reveals ten major WLB themes, from work stress to difficulties with human resource management. This study provides crucial insights for policymakers and leaders to address work-life balance issues effectively. Using tools like Gephi or CiteSpace, we could deepen our understanding through advanced analysis methods such as page rank and network visualization.

Current status of the surgical training system in Japan: results of a nationwide questionnaire survey of graduating surgical trainees.

PURPOSE: To identify the problems trainees face during surgical training in Japan. METHODS: A nationwide online questionnaire survey was conducted targeting newly certified surgical trainees. RESULTS: The response rate was 53.8% (758/1410). Among those respondents, 25.6% were women, 71.4% were either married or had a partner, 41.3% had children, 72.7% had performed over 200 surgeries under general anesthesia, and 54.1% had chosen, before graduating from medical school, to become a surgeon. While 88.8% were interested in learning surgical techniques, 63.8% were hesitant to become a surgeon for fear of a compromised quality of private life (QOL). Conversely, only 1.4% chose their surgical training programs based on QOL. Overall, 84.6% of the trainees were satisfied with their training and this correlated with the number of surgeries performed. Only 29.9% received non-technical skill training. The average number of night shifts per month was 5.6, and 10.6% worked over 80 h per week. Harassment was reported by 41.5% of the respondents. Moreover, 33.0% had considered dropping out at some time, primarily because of their QOL (51.1%) or the harassment they had encountered (50.4%). CONCLUSION: This survey revealed that while trainees were satisfied with the overall training system, issues such as long working hours and harassment are prevalent. Working to improve these issues could make surgery more attractive for young trainees.

Hobbies, Distractions, Obsessions, and Addictions.

A career in cardiothoracic surgery takes a psychological and emotional toll, which is likely increased by recent changes in our health care environment. The benefits of leisure pursuits are severalfold, one of which includes supporting physician wellness. However, we are at risk of relying on unhealthy mechanisms to provide relief. The incidence of addiction and substance abuse is high, particularly among women surgeons. There are a variety of opportunities to help ourselves and support our colleagues. We need to promote healthy activities outside of our profession for the long-term well-being of cardiothoracic surgeons and our specialty.

Work-life integration among nurse educators: a meta-synthesis.

Background: Work-life integration has been extensively researched in various contexts. Women dominate the nursing profession, but work-life integration is essential for men and women since both are expected to focus equally on their families and careers. The nursing faculty perceives nurse educators' work environment as undervalued, lacking support, and limited time to grow and carry the heavy workload. Method: A qualitative meta-synthesis of studies between 2013 and 2023 was conducted using ScienceDirect, EBSCO Host, Sage and Sabinet databases. Seven articles related to the research phenomenon were retrieved. Conclusion: The resulting themes revolved around two central aspects: nurse educators' work and life integration. Nurse educators face various challenges with work-life integration and often view their failure as a personal rather than a societal issue. However, as much as achieving work-life integration is personal, there is a call for employers in academic environments to improve workplace policies, like better-paid maternity leave, affordable quality childcare, and social support. Furthermore, nurse educators' line managers should display warmth and encouragement about personal challenges affecting nurse educators.

Work-life balance and employee commitment: mediating effect of job satisfaction.

Introduction: Work is very important to man and work experiences have implications on other aspects of human life. The major essence of work is to obtain resources to optimize other domains of life. This demands the need to strike a balance. Flowing from the positive and negative effect of the Spill over theory, the study investigated the influence of work-life balance (WLB) on employee job commitment using JS as the mediating variable. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design elicited the desired data from 344 employees in 4 Universities and 4 multinational companies. Path diagram analysis served as the data analysis technique. Results/discussion: The results show that all the family and religious lives have statistically significant negative influences on employee commitment (EMPC) while leisure and health have statistically significant positive influences on EMPC. The study thus, makes theoretical contributions.

Defining the complexities of an occupational pattern-A concept analysis and theoretical validation.

BACKGROUND: The concept of an occupational pattern in occupational therapy and occupational science has evolved with varying definitions, ranging from activity patterns to patterns of daily occupation. AIMS: This study aimed to explore the concept of occupational pattern, develop an updated definition of the concept, and theoretically validate the concept's definition. METHOD: Walker and Avant's concept analysis method was used, where both theoretical frameworks and peer-reviewed scientific literature were searched and synthesized to clarify and define the concept. Furthermore, seven occupational therapists theoretically validated the concept. FINDINGS: The analysis included forty-nine references from various research contexts and theoretical perspectives. The synthesis yielded a conceptualization of the concept of occupational pattern, outlining it into three overarching categories: 'content in an individual's occupational pattern', 'designing an occupational pattern', and 'balancing the occupational pattern'. IMPLICATIONS: An updated operational definition of the multifaceted concept of an occupational pattern now exists, with practical implications for enhancing the education of occupational therapy students and guiding the utilization of the concept. Moreover, it holds significance for instrument development and outcome measurement in research; especially in lifestyle intervention studies within the field of occupational therapy.

Feeling Supported as a Remote Worker: The Role of Support from Leaders and Colleagues and Job Satisfaction in Promoting Employees' Work-Life Balance.

Due to the increasing use of remote work, understanding the dynamics of employee support and its implications for job satisfaction and work-life balance is crucial. Utilizing the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as a theoretical framework, this research investigated how feeling supported by leaders and colleagues at work fosters work-life balance and job satisfaction among remote employees. The study involved 635 remote workers (females = 61%, mean age, 46.7, SD = 11) from various service-based industries and public administration in Italy. Results from the structural equation model showed a total mediating effect of job satisfaction in the link between colleague support and work-life balance (χ2(22) = 68.923, p = 0.00, CFI = 0.973, TLI = 0.955, RMSEA = 0.059 (90% CI = 0.044-0.075, p = 0.158), SRMR = 0.030), emphasizing the role of interpersonal relationships within the workplace in enhancing remote workers' job satisfaction and, consequently, their work-life balance. Contrary to expectations, the study found no significant direct or indirect link between leader support and work-life balance. This research highlights the significance of fostering strong social connections and ensuring employee satisfaction to promote well-being and work-life balance in remote work arrangements.

The Mediating Effect of Well-Being, Happiness, and Trust in the Relationship Between Work-Life Balance and Work Effectiveness in Seafarers.

In the contemporary global context, seafarers persist as the uncelebrated heroes of international trade, despite their substantial contributions. The current estimate places the number of STCW- certified officers at 857 540, reflecting a notable increase of 10.8% since 2015. Nevertheless, there is a growing recognition of the imperative to accord specific attention to seafarers' mental and physical well-being. During their tenures aboard ships, seafarers confront various challenges, including psychological well-being, work-life imbalance, dissatisfaction, diminished performance, and a sense of mistrust toward the organizational framework. The primary objective of this research is to scrutinize the nexus between work-life balance and work effectiveness, exploring the mediating roles of psychological well-being, organizational happiness, and organizational trust. A questionnaire-based survey is meticulously crafted to achieve this, employing a dataset comprising 420 seafarers engaged in diverse vessel types in Turkey, operating under both Turkish and international flags. Methodologically, structural equation modeling and correlation analyses are executed to assess the formulated research hypotheses rigorously. The empirical findings of this research reveal noteworthy mediating roles: psychological well-being exhibits a complete mediation effect, organizational happiness demonstrates a full mediation effect, and organizational trust manifests a partial mediation effect. These outcomes underscore the nuanced interplay between work-life balance and work effectiveness in the seafaring context. The implications of these findings extend significantly to the maritime sector and industry, accentuating the imperative for targeted interventions to enhance the well-being and performance of seafaring professionals.

Burnout and Satisfaction with Work-Life Balance among General Practitioners in Bulgaria during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The objective of the present study is to analyze the link between the degree of professional burnout among general practitioners in Bulgaria during a pandemic and their satisfaction with the balance between their personal lives and professional lives. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from December 2021 to January 2022 among 377 general practitioners. We identified the presence and level of burnout syndrome among GPs using V. Boyko's method for diagnostics of the severity of symptoms and the phases of formation and completion of the 'occupational burnout' process. Descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric tests were used for the analysis. For the significance level of the null hypothesis, we assumed that p < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval. A total of 96.3% of the GPs had a high level of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. They worked more than 8 h a day (74.8%) and more than 5 days a week (69.0%). A total of 86.3% of them were not satisfied with the spare time they had and stated that they could not balance their work and personal lives (67.1%) since the pandemic was announced. A link was found between the level of professional burnout and long working hours (p = 0.022), dissatisfaction with free time (p = 0.028), and the inability to balance work and personal life (p = 0.000), as well as concerns related to safety during the pandemic (p = 0.048). Unrealistically high levels of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a disturbed work-life balance is a reason to re-evaluate health policies and involve more hospital care doctors at the frontlines to fight against severe infectious diseases. The results of this study could be used to inform policy makers, healthcare managers, and other stakeholders about the factors that have had profound impacts on GPs' stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived organizational support and its impact on employee's intention to stay: Dataset from the electronics industry in Vietnam.

This dataset investigates the complex interactions between perceived organizational support (POS) and Employee's intention to stay (ITS) in Vietnam's electronics industry, emphasizing the subtleties of job satisfaction (JS) and work-life balance (WLB) against a backdrop of socialist economic principles. The analysis is underpinned by a structured questionnaire distributed among employees across various corporations, including prominent entities like Samsung, Foxconn, and Luxshare, in Vietnam's northern industrial zones. A total of 604 legitimate responses were amassed via a convenience sampling strategy. After meticulous collation and organization, the dataset was subjected to Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to elucidate the symbiotic relationships among POS, JS, WLB, and ITS. The outcomes obtained from this dataset show the relationship between POS, JS and WLB had a positive and significant impact on ITS. This dataset can offer valuable insights to countries with similar characteristics to Vietnam.

Cancer Prevention Among Firefighters: Examining Lifestyle, Screening Behavior, and Beliefs.

BACKGROUND: Firefighters are at increased risk of developing cancer due to occupational exposures, but they may also face increased risk due to their lifestyle, such as the quality of their diet and physical activity. Cancer beliefs and screening behavior could also influence their cancer risk. The current study aimed to identify individual differences associated with lifestyle behaviors, cancer screening, and cancer beliefs among firefighters; to describe the strategies firefighters use to adapt to their work schedule; and to describe topics firefighters believe are the most important to address in their workplace. METHODS: Career firefighters (N = 171) in a medium-sized U.S. city completed an online survey. FINDINGS: Logistic regression analyses identified age, education, racial identity, years of fire service, perceived stress, and rank as predictors of responses to items addressing cancer screening, lifestyle behaviors, and cancer beliefs. Although results varied, age, education, and racial identity were associated with most of the outcomes. Strategies related to sleep such as getting the right amount and napping, exercise, and getting family/roommate support were selected as the top adaptive strategies for work. Sleep, mental health/well-being, and work-life balance were selected most often as the most important topics to address in the fire service, with topics related to reducing occupational exposures receiving less attention. CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: The findings suggest individual differences, such as age, education, and racial identity, should be considered when developing occupational health interventions for firefighters. Interventions related to mental health, work-life balance, and sleep may be desired most by those in the fire service.

Before and during COVID-19: the roles of transformational leadership, organizational culture and work-life balance in healthcare.

PURPOSE: This research aims to investigate the role of transformational leadership and organizational culture - encompassing Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchical and Market Cultures - in the context of work-life balance for healthcare workers. It aims to present a comparison of observations made pre and mid-pandemic. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A structured questionnaire was utilized to collect data from a varied sample of 355 employees (258 before and 97 during the pandemic) representing multiple sectors and positions within a hospital. The interpretation of the data was accomplished using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). FINDINGS: Findings reveal that prior to the pandemic, transformational leadership significantly influenced all forms of organizational culture perceptions, with a strong influence on Clan Culture. Clan Culture displayed a consistent positive correlation with WLB both before and during the pandemic. During the pandemic, Market Culture exhibited a negative effect on WLB and Adhocracy Culture demonstrated a positive effect, impacts which were absent before the pandemic. Transformational leadership had a positive impact on WLB before the pandemic, but no discernible effect during the pandemic was observed. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The results indicate that the dynamics between transformational leadership, organizational culture and work-life balance are susceptible to alterations in the face of external crisis events. This study offers a unique exploration of these dynamics in the healthcare sector during the ongoing global pandemic.

[Controversies in promoting young talent in orthopedics and trauma surgery]. / Kontroversen in der Nachwuchsförderung in der Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie.

BACKGROUND: The field of orthopedics and trauma surgery is facing a serious shortage of new talent due to the increasing average age of active surgeons and a growing need for staff. The appeal of these specialties is declining among medical students. SOLUTIONS: This trend could be reversed by introducing practice-oriented curricula, mentoring programs, and early integration into professional societies. The quality of surgical education, especially bedside teaching, needs to be improved, as it is often compromised by a lack of time and insufficient pedagogical training of the educators. The practical year (PY) is crucial to attract students to these specialties, but data indicate that the quality of training in orthopedics and trauma surgery is inferior compared to other fields. Professional societies could enhance junior development through targeted programs. Moreover, the problem of recruitment is compounded by imbalanced gender ratios and working conditions that do not align with modern family models or efficient surgical training. There needs to be a rethinking of work scheduling and task distribution in surgery to make the profession more attractive and to ensure the quality of training.