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News, Academic Medicine: AAMC Report on Medical Faculty Retention & Attrition Rates

3 Comments Posted by on June 16, 2008

” This AAMC Analysis in Brief investigates 10-year retention rates of U.S. Medical School Faculty — with special attention to first-time assistant professors (i.e., faculty with no prior appointments at or above the rank of assistant professor)… For all faculty, the percentage leaving academic medicine ranged from 37 percent to 40 percent “.

Excerpt from the recently released AAMC 2008 report, “Long-Term Retention and Attrition of U.S. Medical School Faculty“ *

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) just issued a new report from their series, Analysis in Brief – Volume 8, Number 4 – June 2008 (title shown above). The four-page report is available from the AAMC website, at no cost, to read or download from the AAMC link (pdf here).

Following is a screenshot of Table 1 from the report. Take a close look at the extreme-right hand column, ‘Percent of Faculty Leaving Academic Medicine:

Source Credit: American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) – copyright 2008 – all rights reserved

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These are some sobering statistics. For other AAMC reports, click here.

* Note: The time period covered in the study was from 1981 through 1997.

Academic Medicine, News & Medical News , , , , , , ,

3 responses to “News, Academic Medicine: AAMC Report on Medical Faculty Retention & Attrition Rates”

  1. creaky15 June 19, 2008 at 8:12 AM

    On June 18 2008, the Chronicle of Higher Education posted a brief article about a new study examining why women scientists leave academia. The report is entitled “The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology”. Authors are Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, Lisa J. Servon, Laura Sherbin, Peggy Shiller, Eytan Sosnovich, Karen Sumberg from the Harvard Center for Work-Life Study, at (link): http://www.worklifepolicy.org/index.php

    Creaky

  2. Dr. L June 7, 2009 at 9:36 PM

    I recently returned to school to get my Master’s in Medical Education. The sobering statistics in this report indicate a need to readdress medical education at the university level. The pressures of productivity combined with necessary time for effective teaching leaves many educators frustrated and dissatisfied. The number of medical schools that are increasing their class size as well as the opening of new medical schools should be attracting talented teachers not deterring them. If this country wants to continue to produce highly talented physicians the faculty teaching them must be of the same quality. Work environments, re-examining expectations, and interest in providing a healthy work/home balance are three important aspects that need to be looked at.

  3. creaky15 June 8, 2009 at 7:45 AM

    One of the major issues in academic medicine is balancing out the requirements that faculty do three things: maintain a busy clinical practice, pursue grants and external funding successfully, and put in hours in a classroom or clinical setting to work with students in clinical-teaching-learning.

    Graduate education (from an accounting perspective) is not very “profitable”. And physicians in private practice can make much more money than in academic medicine.

    I agree with all that you said – it is a difficult (and enduring) problem to solve. Experienced and committed educators are the living core of any medical or dental scho0l. Thanks for your comments,
    Creaky

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