A newly published survey confirms what most radiologists already know from experience: When it comes to ample family time and a top-tier career, you generally can’t have it all.
And the choice between career and family is a lifetime decision, it appears. The ramifications of going part-time linger long after a radiologist returns to full-time work, according to a study published in Radiology (November 2001, Vol. 221:3, pp. 485-494.)
Private-practice radiologists who have worked part-time at any point were significantly less likely to be partners in their practice groups. And among academic radiologists, having worked part-time at any point in one’s career was significantly associated with lower academic rank, according to researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.
"Part-time work can provide advantages to the individual, the practice, and the profession," wrote Dr. Jocelyn Chertoff and her colleagues from Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s department of diagnostic radiology. "However, it is important to understand the unintended consequences of part-time work to assess its value."
The researchers sent surveys to 1,500 male and 1,500 female radiologists practicing in the U.S., and received responses from 1,293 people, or 45.6% of those surveyed. The rates of response did not differ greatly between the genders, the authors wrote. However, given that 19,992 or 84.9% of U.S. radiologists are men while 3,543 or 15.1% are women, the survey’s balance may reflect a much more accurate picture of part-time work among female radiologists.
The Dartmouth-Hitchcock survey found a somewhat higher rate of part-time work among women, 30.2%, compared to an 18% rate found in a 1995 survey by the American College of Radiology. The rate of male part-timers remained fairly constant at 7.4%, compared to 9% in 1995.
Given that male radiologists far outnumber their female counterparts in the U.S., there are altogether more men than women working as part-time radiologists. However, the women are three to four times as likely to work part-time.
Women are also far more likely to work part-time earlier in their careers, while raising children, whereas men tend to work part-time later as a transition to retirement. The average age of male part-timer radiologists was 60.7, compared with 45.1 for females. A higher percentage of women also said that the potential for defined working hours was a very important or essential element in their decision to pursue radiology rather than other medical specialties.
On the positive side, part-time radiologists were paid in proportion to their full-time counterparts. The survey respondents said they earned a mean of $148,871 per year, or 56.3% of the $264,426 earned by full-timers, while working 56.9% of the hours (1,291 vs. 2,269).
But the career implications of part-time work were long-lasting. Only 7.9% of academic radiologists who had worked part-time at some point were full professors, versus 30.3% of those who were always full-time. Among private practitioners older than 55, only 39.1% of those who had ever worked part-time had partnership status, compared to an 88.2% partnership rate among those who never worked part-time.
While these effects fall disproportionately on female radiologists, male part-time radiologists will suffer more because of their sheer numbers in the profession, the authors suggested.
"Changes in the demographics of workplaces, the most striking of which is the increasing number of dual-earner families, require changes in workplace practices that accommodate the needs of working people and thus integrate work family and community," the researchers wrote. "Characterizing these needs as women’s issues may limit attempts to address them appropriately or creatively and may disregard the needs of male radiologists in dual-career families."
The researchers also suggested that choosing family time needn’t have long-term effects.
"We contend that structuring part-time work opportunities that facilitate rather than prevent subsequent career advancement would mitigate some of the negative consequences of part-time work," they wrote.
By Tracie L. ThompsonAuntMinnie.com contributing writer
December 12, 2001
Copyright © 2001 AuntMinnie.com
