Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2009 Dec;24(12):1289-95.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-009-1131-5. Epub 2009 Oct 16.

The culture of academic medicine: faculty perceptions of the lack of alignment between individual and institutional values

Linda Pololi  1 , David E Kern, Phyllis Carr, Peter Conrad, Sharon Knight
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The culture of academic medicine: faculty perceptions of the lack of alignment between individual and institutional values

Linda Pololi et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2009 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Energized, talented faculty are essential to achieving the missions of academic medical centers (AMCs) in education, research and health care. The alignment of individuals' values with workplace experiences are linked to meaningfulness of work and productivity.

Objective: To determine faculty values and their alignment with institutional values.

Design: A qualitative hypothesis-generating interview study to understand the professional experiences of faculty and organizational approach in five AMCs that were nationally representative in regional and organizational characteristics. Analysis was inductive and data driven.

Participants: Using stratified, purposeful sampling, we interviewed 96 male and female faculty at different career stages (early career, plateaued, senior faculty and those who had left academic medicine) and diverse specialties (generalists, medical and surgical subspecialists, and research scientists).

Approach: Dominant themes that emerged from the data.

Results: Faculty described values relating to excellence in clinical care, community service (including care for the underserved and disadvantaged), teaching, intellectual rigor/freedom and discovery, all values that mirror the stated missions of AMCs. However, many faculty also described behaviors that led them to conclude that their AMCs, in practice, undervalued excellence in clinical care, and their social and educational missions. Themes were seen across gender, career stage, race and discipline, except that female leaders appeared more likely than male leaders to identify incongruence of individual values and organizational practices.

Conclusions: In this study of five diverse medical schools, faculty values were well aligned with stated institutional missions; however, many perceived that institutional behaviors were not always aligned with individual faculty values.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Faculty values.
    Poses RM, Smith WR. Poses RM, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Jul;25(7):646; author reply 647. doi: 10.1007/s11606-010-1331-z. J Gen Intern Med. 2010. PMID: 20361272 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
  • Resilience training and physician well-being.
    Poses RM, Smith WR, Maulitz R. Poses RM, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2011 Nov;26(11):1243; author reply 1244-5. doi: 10.1007/s11606-011-1854-y. J Gen Intern Med. 2011. PMID: 21901491 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. None
    2. Bogue EG. An agenda of common caring: the call for community in higher education. In: McDonald W, ed. Creating Campus Community: In Search of Ernest Boyer’s Legacy. 1st ed. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass; 2002;1–19.
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1097/00001888-200601000-00008', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-200601000-00008'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '16377815', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16377815/'}]}
    2. Schindler BA, Novack DH, Cohen DG, Yager J, Wang D, Shaheen NJ, Guze P, Wilkerson L, Drossman D. The impact of the changing health care environment on the health and well-being of faculty at four medical schools. Acad Med. 2006;81:27–34. - PubMed
    1. None
    2. Alexander H, Lang J. The Long-Term Retention and Attrition of US Medical School Faculty. Analysis in Brief, 8(4). Washington DC: Association of American Medical Colleges; 2008.
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1016/S0002-9343(03)00117-7', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1016/s0002-9343(03)00117-7'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '12727590', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12727590/'}]}
    2. Shanafelt TD, Sloan JA, Haberman TM. The well-being of physicians. American J Med. 2003;114:513–9. - PubMed
    1. {'text': '', 'ref_index': 1, 'ids': [{'type': 'DOI', 'value': '10.1001/archinternmed.2009.70', 'is_inner': False, 'url': 'https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.70'}, {'type': 'PubMed', 'value': '19468093', 'is_inner': True, 'url': 'https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19468093/'}]}
    2. Shanafelt TD, West CP, Sloan JA, Novotny PJ, Poland GA, Menaker R, Rummans TA, Dyrbye LN. Career fit and burnout among academic faculty. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(10):990–5. - PubMed

Publication types