The "Fourth Mission": The Time Commitment of Anesthesiology Faculty for Management Is Comparable to Their Time Commitments to Education, Research, and Indirect Patient Care

A A Case Rep. 2015 Dec 1;5(11):206-11. doi: 10.1213/XAA.0000000000000149.

Abstract

Academic anesthesia departments have management responsibilities (e.g., coordinating sedation, directing the operating rooms [ORs], informatics, ongoing professional performance evaluation, staff scheduling, and workroom inventory management). For each of the 64 faculty, a survey sampled 10 weekdays and 4 weekend days of professional activity over N=56 days. Faculty time in managerial activities was 126% of time spent on education, 107% of time spent in research, and 112% of time spent on mandatory indirect clinical support (e.g., fire safety training). The 95% lower confidence limits calculated using Fieller's theorem were 107%, 89%, and 91%, respectively. Corresponding bootstrap limits were 107%, 89%, and 90%, respectively. Thus, although our College of Medicine tripartite mission includes clinical care, education, and research, administrative activities constitute a "fourth mission" of our department.

MeSH terms

  • Anesthesia Department, Hospital
  • Anesthesiology / education
  • Anesthesiology / statistics & numerical data*
  • Biomedical Research / statistics & numerical data*
  • Education, Medical*
  • Faculty, Medical*
  • Hospitals, University
  • Humans
  • Iowa
  • Patient Care / statistics & numerical data*
  • Practice Management, Medical / statistics & numerical data*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Time Factors