Presenteeism Among Resident Physicians
- Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhDDepartment of MedicineMassachusetts General HospitalBoston;
- DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr, MDAccreditation Council for Graduate Medical EducationChicago, Illinois;
- Steven R. Daugherty, PhDDepartment of PsychologyRush Medical CollegeChicago;
- David O. Meltzer, MD, PhD;
- Vineet M. Arora, MD, MAPP varora@medicine.bsd.uchicago.eduDepartment of MedicineUniversity of ChicagoChicago
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- HOSPITALS, TEACHING
- IATROGENIC DISEASE
- INFECTION CONTROL
- INFECTIOUS DISEASE TRANSMISSION, PROFESSIONAL-TO-PATIENT
- INTERNSHIP AND RESIDENCY
- PHYSICIANS
To the Editor: Despite recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines urging health care personnel with flu-like illness to avoid working,1 presenteeism (working while sick) is prevalent among health care workers.2 Ill health care workers can endanger patients and colleagues due to decline in performance or spread of disease. Resident physicians may face unique pressures to work when sick and lack time to seek health care. Using a multihospital resident survey, we determined self-reported presenteeism rates and associated factors among residents.
Methods
In August 2009, anonymous surveys were sent by 2 authors (D.C.B. Jr, S.R.D.) to 744 residents in postgraduate year (PGY) 2 and 3 in general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, internal medicine, and pediatrics at 35 programs in 12 hospitals selected for varied geographic, size, and governance characteristics. Using a 50-item survey that broadly evaluated residency training, residents were queried regarding their prior academic year (2008-2009), “Were there occasions …
