CC BY 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2023; 13(02): 117-129
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1770701
Original Article

Career Satisfaction and Burnout among American Muslim Physicians

1   Initiative on Islam and Medicine, Brookfield, Wisconsin, United States
,
1   Initiative on Islam and Medicine, Brookfield, Wisconsin, United States
2   Department of Emergency Medicine, HUB for Collaborative Medicine, The Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
› Author Affiliations
Funding The principal data collection and partial time-effort for AIP were funded by the John Templeton Foundation (#20877) as part of the Faculty Scholars Program in the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago.

Abstract

Background Career satisfaction and burnout among physicians are important to study because they impact healthcare quality, outcomes, and physicians' well-being. Relationships between religiosity and these constructs are underexplored, and Muslim American physicians are an understudied population.

Methods To explore relationships between career satisfaction, burnout, and callousness and Muslim physician characteristics, a questionnaire including measures of religiosity, career satisfaction, burnout, callousness, and sociodemographic characteristics was mailed to a random sample of Islamic Medical Association of North America members. Statistical relationships were explored using chi-squared tests and logistic regression models.

Results There were 255 respondents (41% response rate) with a mean age of 52 years. Most (70%) were male, South Asian (70%), and immigrated to the United States as adults (65%). Nearly all (89%) considered Islam the most or very important part of their life, and 85% reported being somewhat or very satisfied with their career. Multivariate models revealed that workplace accommodation of religious identity is the strongest predictor of career satisfaction (odds ratio [OR]: 2.69, p = 0.015) and that respondents who considered religious practice to be the most important part of their lives had higher odds of being satisfied with their career (OR: 2.21, p = 0.049) and lower odds of burnout (OR: 0.51, p = 0.016). Participants who felt that their religion negatively influenced their relationships with colleagues had higher odds of callousness (OR: 2.25, p = 0.003).

Conclusions For Muslim physicians, holding their religion to be the most important part of their life positively associates with career satisfaction and lower odds of burnout and callousness. Critically, perceptions that one's workplace accommodates a physician's religious identity associate strongly with career satisfaction. In this era of attention to physician well-being, the importance of religiosity and religious identity accommodations to positive career outcomes deserves focused policy attention.



Publication History

Article published online:
03 July 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India

 
  • References

  • 1 Elder KT, Wiltshire JC, Rooks RN, Belue R, Gary LC. Health information technology and physician career satisfaction. Perspect Health Inf Manag 2010; 7 (Summer): 1 . Published 2010 Sep 1
  • 2 Leigh JP, Tancredi DJ, Kravitz RL. Physician career satisfaction within specialties. BMC Health Serv Res 2009; 9 (01) 166 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-9-166.
  • 3 Tietjen MA, Myers RM. Motivation and job satisfaction. Manage Decis 1998; 36 (04) 226-231
  • 4 Chieffo AM. Factors contributing to job satisfaction and organizational commitment of community college leadership teams. Community Coll Rev 1991; 19 (02) 15-24
  • 5 Leary TG, Green R, Denson K, Schoenfeld G, Henley T, Langford H. The relationship among dysfunctional leadership dispositions, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and burnout. The Psychologist-Manager Journal 2013; 16 (02) 112-130
  • 6 Aziri B. Job satisfaction: a literature review. Manag Res Pract 2011; 3 (04) 77-86
  • 7 Zingeser L. Career and job satisfaction. ASHA Lead 2004; 9 (20) 4-13
  • 8 Filut A, Carnes M. Will losing black physicians be a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic?. Acad Med 2020; 95 (12) 1796-1798
  • 9 Cardel MI, Dean N, Montoya-Williams D. Preventing a secondary epidemic of lost early career scientists. Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on women with children. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2020; 17 (11) 1366-1370
  • 10 West CP, Dyrbye LN, Shanafelt TD. Physician burnout: contributors, consequences and solutions. J Intern Med 2018; 283 (06) 516-529
  • 11 Tiako MJN, Forman HP, Nuñez-Smith M. Racial health disparities, COVID-19, and a way forward for US health systems. J Hosp Med 2021; 16 (01) 50-52
  • 12 Wallace JE, Lemaire JB, Ghali WA. Physician wellness: a missing quality indicator. Lancet 2009; 374 (9702): 1714-1721
  • 13 Rentmeester CA, Brack AB, Kavan MG. Third and fourth year medical students' attitudes about and experiences with callousness: the good, the bad and the ambiguous. Med Teach 2007; 29 (04) 358-364
  • 14 Dzeng E, Colaianni A, Roland M. et al. Moral distress amongst American physician trainees regarding futile treatments at the end of life: a qualitative study. J Gen Intern Med 2016; 31 (01) 93-99
  • 15 Cameron CD, Payne BK. The cost of callousness: regulating compassion influences the moral self-concept. Psychol Sci 2012; 23 (03) 225-229
  • 16 Smith GA. About three-in-ten US adults are now religiously unaffiliated. Pew Res Cent 2021; 1
  • 17 Meltzer LS, Huckabay LM. Critical care nurses' perceptions of futile care and its effect on burnout. Am J Crit Care 2004; 13 (03) 202-208
  • 18 Curlin FA, Lantos JD, Roach CJ, Sellergren SA, Chin MH. Religious characteristics of U.S. physicians: a national survey. J Gen Intern Med 2005; 20 (07) 629-634
  • 19 Lal A, Tharyan A, Tharyan P. The prevalence, determinants and the role of empathy and religious or spiritual beliefs on job stress, job satisfaction, coping, burnout, and mental health in medical and surgical faculty of a teaching hospital: a cross-sectional survey. Rev Med Interne 2020; 41 (04) 232-240
  • 20 Jensen PM, Trollope-Kumar K, Waters H, Everson J. Building physician resilience. Can Fam Physician 2008; 54 (05) 722-729
  • 21 Silver JK, Bean AC, Slocum C. et al. Physician workforce disparities and patient care: a narrative review. Health Equity 2019; 3 (01) 360-377
  • 22 IMGs by country of origin. Am Med Assoc. 2007
  • 23 Duivenbode R, Hall S, Padela AI. Assessing relationships between Muslim physicians' religiosity and end-of-life health-care attitudes and treatment recommendations: an exploratory national survey. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2019; 36 (09) 780-788
  • 24 Laird LD, Abu-Ras W, Senzai F. Cultural citizenship and belonging: Muslim International Medical Graduates in the USA. J Muslim Minor Aff 2013; 33 (03) 356-370
  • 25 Muslims Report Rising Discrimination at Work. Updated 2010
  • 26 Padela AI, Adam H, Ahmad M, Hosseinian Z, Curlin F. Religious identity and workplace discrimination: a national survey of American Muslim physicians. AJOB Empir Bioeth 2016; 7 (03) 149-159
  • 27 El-Majzoub S, Fatmi M. Muslim psychiatrists in training address Islamophobia in clinical experiences. In: Moffic HS, Peteet J, Hankir AZ, Awaad R. eds. Islamophobia and Psychiatry. Springer International Publishing; 2019: 193-207
  • 28 Hamouda MA, Emanuel LL, Padela AI. Empathy and attending to patient religion/spirituality: findings from a National Survey of Muslim Physicians. J Health Care Chaplain 2021; 27 (02) 84-104
  • 29 Popal S, Hall S, Padela AI. Muslim American physicians' views on brain death: Findings from a national survey. Avicenna J Med 2021; 11 (02) 63-69
  • 30 Arzuaga B, Adam H, Ahmad M, Padela A. Attitudes towards the resuscitation of periviable infants: a national survey of American Muslim physicians. Acta Paediatr 2016; 105 (03) 260-267
  • 31 Nunez-Smith M, Pilgrim N, Wynia M. et al. Race/ethnicity and workplace discrimination: results of a national survey of physicians. J Gen Intern Med 2009; 24 (11) 1198-1204
  • 32 West CP, Dyrbye LN, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Single item measures of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are useful for assessing burnout in medical professionals. J Gen Intern Med 2009; 24 (12) 1318-1321
  • 33 Curlin FA, Chin MH, Sellergren SA, Roach CJ, Lantos JD. The association of physicians' religious characteristics with their attitudes and self-reported behaviors regarding religion and spirituality in the clinical encounter. Med Care 2006; 44 (05) 446-453
  • 34 Chung GS, Lawrence RE, Rasinski KA, Yoon JD, Curlin FA. Obstetrician-gynecologists' beliefs about when pregnancy begins. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2012; 206 (02) 132.e1-132.e7
  • 35 Yoon JD, Shin JH, Nian AL, Curlin FA. Religion, sense of calling, and the practice of medicine: findings from a national survey of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. South Med J 2015; 108 (03) 189-195
  • 36 Harris PA, Taylor R, Thielke R, Payne J, Gonzalez N, Conde JG. Research electronic data capture (REDCap)–a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. J Biomed Inform 2009; 42 (02) 377-381
  • 37 Frank E, McMurray JE, Linzer M, Elon L. Society of General Internal Medicine Career Satisfaction Study Group. Career satisfaction of US women physicians: results from the Women Physicians' Health Study. Arch Intern Med 1999; 159 (13) 1417-1426
  • 38 Yoon JD, Daley BM, Curlin FA. The association between a sense of calling and physician well-being: a national study of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. Acad Psychiatry 2017; 41 (02) 167-173
  • 39 Wachholtz A, Rogoff M. The relationship between spirituality and burnout among medical students. J Contemp Med Educ 2013; 1 (02) 83-91
  • 40 Koenig HG. Physician well-being from the perspective of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In: McCallister DE, Hamilton T. eds. Transforming the Heart of Practice: An Organizational and Personal Approach to Physician Wellbeing. Springer International Publishing; 2019: 175-185
  • 41 Neiterman E, Bourgeault IL. The shield of professional status: Comparing internationally educated nurses' and international medical graduates' experiences of discrimination. Health 2015; 19 (06) 615-634
  • 42 Glasheen JJ, Misky GJ, Reid MB, Harrison RA, Sharpe B, Auerbach A. Career satisfaction and burnout in academic hospital medicine. Arch Intern Med 2011; 171 (08) 782-785
  • 43 Dyrbye LN, Varkey P, Boone SL, Satele DV, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Physician satisfaction and burnout at different career stages. Mayo Clin Proc 2013; 88 (12) 1358-1367
  • 44 Shanafelt TD, Balch CM, Bechamps GJ. et al. Burnout and career satisfaction among American surgeons. Ann Surg 2009; 250 (03) 463-471
  • 45 Amoafo E, Hanbali N, Patel A, Singh P. What are the significant factors associated with burnout in doctors?. Occup Med (Lond) 2015; 65 (02) 117-121
  • 46 West CP, Shanafelt TD, Kolars JC. Quality of life, burnout, educational debt, and medical knowledge among internal medicine residents. JAMA 2011; 306 (09) 952-960
  • 47 Gozu A, Kern DE, Wright SM. Similarities and differences between international medical graduates and U.S. medical graduates at six Maryland community-based internal medicine residency training programs. Acad Med 2009; 84 (03) 385-390
  • 48 Chamberlain LJ, Hodson R. Toxic work environments: what helps and what hurts. Sociol Perspect 2010; 53 (04) 455-477
  • 49 Colligan TW, Higgins EM. Workplace stress: etiology and consequences. J Workplace Behav Health 2005; 21 (02) 89-97
  • 50 Klingler C, Ismail F, Marckmann G, Kuehlmeyer K. Medical professionalism of foreign-born and foreign-trained physicians under close scrutiny: a qualitative study with stakeholders in Germany. PLoS One 2018; 13 (02) e0193010
  • 51 Increase the ability of primary care and behavioral health professionals to provide more high-quality care to patients who need it—AHS-R01 - Healthy People 2030 | health.gov. health.gov. Accessed June 4, 2023 at: https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/health-care/increase-ability-primary-care-and-behavioral-health-professionals-provide-more-high-quality-care-patients-who-need-it-ahs-r01
  • 52 Nivet MA. Minorities in academic medicine: review of the literature. J Vasc Surg 2010; 51 (4, Suppl): 53S-58S
  • 53 Apfelbaum EP, Stephens NM, Reagans RE. Beyond one-size-fits-all: tailoring diversity approaches to the representation of social groups. J Pers Soc Psychol 2016; 111 (04) 547-566
  • 54 Lal A, Sahu KK, Mishra AK. Can foundational spiritual and religious beliefs be protective against burnout?. Am J Med 2020; 133 (08) e441