Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) conducted a nationwide survey to identify stressors perceived by pathology residents. The survey appears online in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
Studies in other specialties have found that stress during residency training affects efficiency, productivity, error rates and physician burnout. Immediate effects of stress include increased heart rate and increased white blood cell count. The long-term effects include cynicism, apathy, depression, emotional exhaustion, hostility, alcohol and substance abuse, obsessive compulsive disorders, and other dissociative behavioral patterns. These factors have not been studied in this unique specialty field where patient and ancillary support staff related stressors are minimal, according to senior author Lija Joseph, MD, associate professor of pathology and associate residency program director of the anatomic and clinical pathology training program at BUSM.
The researchers generated a list of 17 specific key stressors based on literature review and a focus group that identified the most common stressors in this specialty. Pathology residents and pathology residency program directors were asked to rate these stressors on a scale of one through five, with one considered least stressful and five considered most stressful. The survey also offered a not applicable choice and three open ended questions that allowed participants to include additional stressors not listed in the survey. Unique stressors that emerged in this survey included faculty favoritism and bias as well as lack of professionalism among faculty members. Lack of mentoring and variability in faculty expectations may be a factor that deters graduates from residency programs from choosing academics as a career choice.