Background: Turnover is high among millennial hospitalists (born from 1982 to 1996). Hospital medicine groups (HMG) face the financial consequences of employee attrition as the number of millennial hospitalists rises. Millennial hospitalists place high importance on the culture of practice and work-life balance when choosing an HMG, but factors influencing their decision to leave a job remain unclear.
Methods: A survey asked millennial hospitalists at 7 HMGs in the United States to rate the importance of 18 elements (four-point Likert scale) in their decision to remain at an HMG. Those who indicated intent to leave their HMG were further asked to provide ratings on the same elements. The 18 elements were grouped into four categories: culture of practice, work-life balance, financial considerations, and career advancement. We dichotomized the responses as important or unimportant. We calculated the means for each of the 18 elements (then compared using z-tests of two proportions) and means within each category (compared using unpaired t-tests).
Results: 140 hospitalists started the survey but 4 entries were removed due to missing responses (Figure 1). 136 hospitalists rated elements important for staying at their HMG; 75 hospitalists reported considering quitting. Figure 2 compares participant responses for the 18 elements that would influence their decision to remain at or quit their HMG. Culture of practice was the most frequently rated category influencing decision to leave, followed by work-life balance.
Conclusions: Understanding elements influencing quitting decisions of millennial hospitalists and addressing the modifiable factors can help prevent the attrition of the future workforce in medicine.
