SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Facilitators, Barriers, and Career Development Needs Among Hospitalist Faculty at an Academic Medical Center: A Mixed Methods Study

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This mixed-methods study explored how academic hospitalist faculty develop professionally and what helps or hinders their career advancement. The authors note that hospital medicine is rapidly growing, but faculty often struggle to balance clinical work with academic expectations. Prior reviews have called for stronger institutional support, including dedicated leadership, protected academic time, financial resources, and tailored mentorship. However, the real-world experiences of hospitalists in professional development were not well understood.<br /><br />The study used structured hour-long interviews with 11 purposively selected hospitalist faculty members who varied by age, gender, rank, and years in rank. Researchers analyzed the interviews using interpretive phenomenology and shared findings back with participants for validation.<br /><br />Three main niche areas emerged: quality improvement and patient safety, medical education, and health systems administration. Faculty typically developed these niches through one of four pathways: early interest during residency, early faculty exploration through trial and error or mentorship, later “falling into” a niche with guidance, or remaining without a clear niche because of mismatches with personal or clinical demands.<br /><br />Facilitators of growth were similar across niches and included starting early, prior training or program access, self-initiative, mentoring and networking, and mentorship that also involved sponsorship. Common barriers included lack of time, unclear promotion pathways, limited understanding of advancement criteria, difficulty producing scholarly work, and weak grant-writing skills.<br /><br />A central theme was movement between “steadying” and “shake-up” states, where career progress required overcoming uncertainty or learning new skills before reaching the next stage. The study concludes that hospitalist career development depends heavily on niche formation and strong mentorship, and that institutions should create structured supports beyond traditional medical education pathways to help faculty advance.

Asset Subtitle

Jacob Berkowitz

Meta Tag

Author List Aaron Silver, Angela E. Alday, Bailey Pope, Jacob Berkowitz, Jacob Luty, James E. Anstey, Kevin Piro, Michael J. Hendricks, Noriyuki Murakami, Patricia Carney, Patty Ritze

Category Research

Concept Hospitalist Faculty

Concept Academic Growth

Concept Mentorship

Concept Sponsorship

Concept Career Pathway

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Oregon Health and Science University

Presenting Author Jacob Berkowitz

Track Other

Keywords

academic hospitalists

professional development

mixed-methods study

career advancement

mentorship

protected academic time

quality improvement

medical education

health systems administration

institutional support

Hospitalist Faculty

Academic Growth

Mentorship

Sponsorship

Career Pathway