Mr Paul Long1, Professor Erwin Loh2, Dr Katherine Worsley2
1Centre for Health Leadership, Surry Hills, Australia, 2St Vincent’s Health Australia, Melbourne, Australia
Purpose: To assess levels and patterns of engagement amongst gender diverse populations of doctors, particularly woman and non-binary, levels at two teaching hospitals and six private hospitals in two states operated by the same health care provider; and to describe individual and organisational factors related to their engagement.
Design: A survey was emailed to all junior and senior medical staff, seeking responses to 30 pre-determined items. The survey used a valid and reliable instrument which provided an overall index of medical engagement, against which respondents relative engagement is ranked highest to lowest.
Findings: Doctors (n=1310) at seven hospitals responded to the survey. Female doctors working at four sites are in the top 20 percentile when compared to females working at another two hospitals. Females doctors working at the remaining two sites recorded the lowest engagement. Overall, male doctors appear to be more engaged than their colleagues. Non-binary doctors working at two sites are in the medium to lowest engagement band. Consultants tended to be more engaged than trainees. No discernible differences were observed between public and private facilities.
Differences appear to be related to how valued and empowered doctors feel and whether they are encouraged to develop their skills to progress their careers. Activity aimed at enhancing female and non-binary are required to address the lower levels of engagement then their male counterparts. Particularly for non-binary staff.
Originality: Despite medical engagement is recognised as crucial, little is known individual and organisational factors that support doctors to be engaged.
Biography:
Paul Long is an experienced senior health care consultant and academic specialising in organisational systems and behaviour change related to the safety and quality of healthcare systems and service delivery models. Paul trained at the Harvard University Kennedy School, and holds senior academic posts at the St Vincent’s Health Australia and the NSW Centre for Clinical Excellence. He is Australia’s foremost expert on medical engagement and related topics.