THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAREER SATISFACTION AND FELLOWSHIP TRAINING IN ACADEMIC SURGEONS

BACKGROUND: Academic surgeons make various important decisions about t heir careers; however, little is known about the relationships between fellowship training, career development issues, and academic responsi bilities. METHODS: Surgeon members of the Association for Surgical Edu cation were surveyed about career development issues. Three hundred ni nety-two (75.2%) surgeons responded. RESULTS: An exploratory factor an alysis of the career development issues revealed four career developme nt factors. Statistically significant differences were found between t ypes of fellowship training and the career development factors. Nonfel lollowship-trained and clinical-fellowship-trained surgeons spend thei r time similarly to physicians in other specialties. Research-fellowsh ip-trained surgeons spent significantly more time doing research, had fewer concerns about professional confidence, and expressed greater sa tisfaction with their careers. CONCLUSION: There is a relationship bet ween career development issues, fellowship training, and type of fello wship training. Attention to these issues may be important in recruiti ng and retaining academic surgeons.