Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric faculty: a report from nine academic institutions.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic affected home and work routines, which may exacerbate existing academic professional disparities. Objectives were to describe the impact of the pandemic on pediatric faculty's work productivity, identify groups at risk for widening inequities, and explore mitigation strategies. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of faculty members was conducted at nine U.S. pediatric departments. Responses were analyzed by demographics, academic rank, and change in home caregiving responsibility. RESULTS: Of 5791 pediatric faculty members eligible, 1504 (26%) completed the survey. The majority were female (64%), over 40 years old (60%), and assistant professors (47%). Only 7% faculty identified as underrepresented in medicine. Overall 41% reported an increase in caregiving during the pandemic. When comparing clinical, administrative, research, and teaching activities, faculty reported worse 1-year outlook for research activities. Faculty with increased caregiving responsibilities were more likely to report concerns over delayed promotion and less likely to have a favorable outlook regarding clinical and research efforts. Participants identified preferred strategies to mitigate challenges. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted pediatric faculty productivity with the greatest effects on those with increased caregiving responsibilities. COVID-19 was particularly disruptive to research outlook. Mitigation strategies are needed to minimize the long-term impacts on academic pediatric careers. IMPACT: The COVID-19 pandemic most negatively impacted work productivity of academic pediatric faculty with caregiving responsibilities. COVID-19 was particularly disruptive to short-term (1-year) research outlook among pediatric faculty. Faculty identified mitigation strategies to minimize the long-term impacts of the pandemic on academic pediatric career pathways.

Gender Discrimination and Reporting Experiences among Academic Pediatric Faculty: A Qualitative, Single-institution Study.

OBJECTIVE: Gender-harassment is well-described in academic medicine, including pediatrics. We explored academic pediatricians' qualitative descriptions of: 1) workplace gender-harassment; 2) its professional and emotional tolls; 3) barriers to and outcomes of reporting gender-harassment; and 4) tools to intervene. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, anonymous, survey-based study within a single, large pediatrics department. Surveys included demographic items, validated measures to assess prevalence of gender-harassment, and optional, free-text boxes to elaborate. Here, we present the directed content analyses of free-text responses. Two trained qualitative researchers coded participant comments to identify types of gender-harassment, its impact, and participants' experiences reporting it. Final agreement between coders was outstanding (Kappa>0.9). A secondary, inductive analysis illustrated the emotional burdens of and opportunities to interrupt gender-harassment. RESULTS: Of 524 total faculty, 290 (55%) completed the survey and 144 (27% of total, 50% of survey-respondents) provided text-responses. This sub-cohort was predominantly white women >5 years on-faculty. Compared to the full cohort, sub-cohort participants had more commonly witnessed/experienced workplace-harassment; 92% of sub-cohort women and 52% of men endorsed fear of reporting it. Respondents described harassment by institutional staff (24% of respondents), patients/families (35%), colleagues (50%), supervisors/leadership (50%), and the system (63%). Women used stronger emotional descriptors than men (ie, "humiliated" vs "uncomfortable"). Only 19% of women (and no men) had reported witnessed/experienced harassment; 24% of those described a negative consequence and 95% noted that no changes were made thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: This single-center study suggests gender-harassment in academic pediatrics is common. Faculty feel fear and futility reporting it.

Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in a Department of Pediatrics.

The last substantial description of gender discrimination and harassment described in the journal Pediatrics was in 2019. It is unclear whether the field has made progress toward its goal of equity. We aimed to describe: (1) the recent gender-equity climate according to women and men faculty in the department of pediatrics at a single, large academic center, and (2) institutional efforts to address persistent gender discrimination and harassment. In late 2020, we distributed an anonymous survey to all department faculty that included demographic data, a modified version of the Overt Gender Discrimination at Work Scale, questions about experiences/witnessed discriminatory treatment and sexual harassment, and if those experiences negatively affected career advancement. Of 524 pediatrics faculty, 290 (55%) responded. Compared with men, women more commonly reported gender discrimination (50% vs. 4%, P < .01) and that their gender negatively affected their career advancement (50% vs 9%, P < .01). More than 50% of women reported discriminatory treatment at least annually and 38% recognized specific sexist statements; only 4% and 17% of men reported the same (P < .01 for both). We concluded that a disproportionately low number of male faculty recognized the harassment female faculty experienced. In the 18 months since, our department and university have made efforts to improve salary equity and parity in leadership representation, created an anonymous bias-reporting portal, mandated bias training, and implemented new benchmarks of "professionalism" that focus on diversity. Although we acknowledge that culture change will take time, we hope our lessons learned help promote gender equity in pediatrics more broadly.