Are Medical Schools and Other Academic Health Centers Good Places for Psychologists to Work?

Scott Temple, reviewing Faculty Health in Academic Medicine: Physicians, Scientists, and the Pressures of Success, notes,

Anyone working on the faculty of an American academic medical center will resonate with the thesis of this book: Increasing workloads in a disintegrating, chaotic, and dehumanizing health care system are leading to ever higher rates of faculty dissatisfaction. Demands for increased clinical and grant productivity leave little time for the rich range of teaching and scholarly activities that draw physicians and doctoral faculty to academic medical centers. Concerns with economic survival increasingly trump the humanitarian mission of academic medicine, as the art of listening is supplanted by the demand for more relative value units.

Are academic medical centers good places for early career psychologists to begin their careers?

Read the Review

Faculty Burnout in Academic Medical Centers: New Efforts Toward Its Amelioration
By Scott Temple
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2009 Vol 54(33)

Comments

[Susan McDaniel PhD]

I attended the conference that was the backbone of this book, and it was terrific. We each presented a paper, and the whole group (about 20) commented on it. Most of the folks were Sr Assoc Deans for Faculty Affairs/Development in Medical Schools, carefully chosen by the editors intent on defining a field of "Faculty Health." With colleagues Bogdewic, Holloway,and Hepworth, I worked on the Psychological Health chapter. It was an inspiring meeting, hearing about the ideas and programs of folks committed to Faculty Health.

In terms of the question about early career psychologists/faculty, I think Medical School environments (and departments) are highly variable but I certainly hope that many will see it as an opportunity for meaningful work that involves patients, students, and faculty in education, research, and clinical practice. Health care reform is so prominent on the minds of everyone right now; I believe psychologists are critical to the conversation. We have to be at the table (ie, the Medical Center, to start) to contribute. The fresh eyes (and skills) of early career psychologists and other faculty are invaluable as we try to envision a better system for patients, students, and faculty.

Susan H McDaniel PhD
Dr Laurie Sands Distinguished Professor of
Families & Health
Director, Institute for the Family,
Dept of Psychiatry
Associate Chair, Dept of Family Medicine
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester NY