Meeting the goals of academia: characteristics of emergency medicine faculty academic work styles.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Emergency medicine faculty have 24-hour clinical responsibilities in addition to the academic requirements of research and administration/teaching. This study was undertaken to determine the existing and ideal work style of such faculty by professional rank, administrative title, and/or tenure versus clinical track.

DESIGN: Data analysis from department or residency directors of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved emergency medicine residency programs.

SETTING: ACGME-approved emergency medicine residency programs.

TYPE OF PARTICIPANTS: Emergency medicine faculty.

RESULTS: Ninety-three percent of programs submitted appropriate data. Programs averaged 11 full- and four part-time faculty. Mean time ranged from 15 to 30 hours per week with an average mean of 23 hours (48% of total work week) for clinical responsibilities, from ten to 32 hours per week with an average mean of 19 hours per week (38%) for administrative/teaching efforts, and from three to 14 hours per week with an average mean of seven hours per week (15%) for research. Total time averaged between 44 and 51 hours per week. Ideal work style emphasized less clinical time and a shorter work week. Responsibilities varied by rank, administrative position, and clinical versus tenure track.

CONCLUSION: Emergency medicine faculty accomplish the clinical, research, and teaching/administrative demands of academia by increasing the number of faculty, varying the faculty responsibilities by rank and title, and shortening the total work week. Research time is extremely limited.