Educational experiences and quality of life of gastroenterology fellows inthe united states

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the education and quality of life of United States gastroenterology fellows. METHODS: A 3-page, 74-question survey incorporating a 5-point Likert scale was designed. All US gastroenterology fellowship program directors were con tacted by mail and asked to distribute the survey to graduating fellows. Su rveys were sent on 3/29/1998 and collected until 6/1/98. RESULTS: Fellows who would not train at the same institution again had less supervision, clinical instruction, research mentorship, and support servic es than those who would. Fellows who had loans had lower personal satisfact ion scores than those who did not. Fellows who did not hold second jobs (mo onlight) had higher job satisfaction scores. Those with vision or dental in surance had higher job and personal satisfaction scores. Regarding quality of life, only 23% of fellows agreed they were not overworked, 23% agreed th ey were not stressed, 25% agreed they were financially stable, 54% agreed t hey were happy with fellowship, and 84% agreed they were happy with their c areer choice. Regarding education, 56% agreed there was more emphasis on pr oductivity than on education, 39% agreed they received adequate mentorship for research, 86% agreed there was adequate supervision, 48% of fellows agr eed they had autonomy in making clinical decisions, and 41% agreed they had continuity of care in seeing patients. CONCLUSIONS: Most fellows were happy about their career choice and clinical instruction, but there were deficiencies regarding quality of life (stress , overwork, financial security), education (research support, continuity of care) and job benefits (health coverage). (Am J Gastroenterol 1999;94:3601 -3612. (C) 1999 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology).