Contrasting Department Chair Leadership Styles Concerning Clinical Faculty Burnout and Well-Being in an Academic Health Care System
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Purpose: To demonstrate the effects of two Department Chair leadership styles on physician burnout and wellness after changing Department Chairs within an Academic Health Care organization (AHCO). Methods: This retrospective study utilizes the University of Missouri School of Medicine (UM-SOM) physician wellness surveys to examine the effects of two consecutive Department Chair leadership styles on physician wellness/burnout within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2021 to 2022. The two leadership styles compared were production-based (a revenue-generating health care delivery mode) and servant-based (centered on quality of patient care/experience, decreasing costs, and addressing the well-being of professional providers). After one year of leadership change, the UM-SOM physician wellness surveys captured multiple metrics about physician wellness and burnout under these contrasting leadership styles. The UM-SOM survey remained the same during the transition of department chairs, lending a reliable comparison of the effects of leadership styles on physician wellness and burnout. The metrics assessed were categorized into key outcomes: basics, safety, respect, appreciation/connection, and joy. Key results quantified individual burnout and turnover intent. Basics centered on poor sleep, physical stressors, and sadness. The culture of respect category assessed civility and accountability. Appreciation and connection queried feeling appreciated and not sharing supervisor values. Results: The results of the SOM clinical faculty physician wellness survey for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology favored a chair with a servant-based leadership style over a productivity-based one within twelve months of the new leadership philosophy. The individual burnout rate decreased by 32%, and turnover intent decreased by 56%. Poor sleep, physical stressors, and sadness improved by 59%, 41%, and 59%, respectively. Civility increased by 21%, accountability enhanced by 53%, feeling unappreciated decreased by 55%, and sharing the supervisor’s values improved by 82%. Joy at work went to 100%. While these metrics showed improvement under the new leadership within the obstetrics and gynecology department, the same survey, including all the UM-SOM departments, showed slightly worsening conditions or minimal improvement in the same metrics. This is reflected in a comparison of the burnout with the all-inclusive UM-SOM clinical faculty burnout rate, showing an increase of 7%, while the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology decreased by 32% under their new Chair’s leadership style. Conclusion: Department chair leadership styles within the AHCO can profoundly impact physician burnout and wellness. This retrospective study reveals the positive impact on physician wellness and burnout assessed through the SOM clinical faculty wellness surveys after transitioning from a nineteen-year productivity-based chair leadership style to a newly appointed chair with a servant-based leadership style. The results are reliably captured by the UM- SOM physician wellness surveys over two consecutive years, during which the clinical faculty and the wellness survey remained constant. Contrasting leadership styles with healthcare delivery models can help understand the results. The servant leadership ship style is integral to a value-based healthcare delivery model and serves the mission of the AHCO. Servant leadership integrated with a value-based delivery model within the AHCO will improve patient care and experience, decrease healthcare costs, and improve healthcare professionals’ work lives. The productivity-based leadership ties into the old-school mindset of a volume healthcare delivery mode with doctors as revenue-generating centers. The changing economics of health care and the decreasing revenues only push healthcare professionals harder, driving burnout and compromising wellness in a productivity-based leadership and volume-based healthcare delivery mode. The retrospective study results show a 75% burnout for clinical faculty during such productivity-based administration within the obstetrics and gynecology department. Within 12 months of servant-based leadership, the same clinical faculty’s burnout rate decreased by 32%. Productivity-based leadership enhances clinical faculty burnout while compromising their wellness; this is not a sustainable leadership style for the AHCO mission regarding healthcare professionals’ wellness or patient care. This study would suggest that an effective means to mitigate the rising burnout rate within the healthcare profession in AHCO can start with a servant-based leadership style at the level of the department chair.
DOI: 10.54053/001c.132179
Authors: Karen Thies, Jean Goodman, Jasmine Walker
Institutions: University of Missouri, University of Missouri Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409663664