Most of us (if not all of us) are currently dealing with personnel issues, particularly with difficulty in recruiting/retaining. Such difficulties are heavily borne by departmental leaders who are simultaneously accountable to physicians that work under them and to hospital administrators above them. The average tenure of an anesthesiology department chair is less than five years, and the incidence of burnout is high (Anesthesiology 2011;114:181-93). Staffing problems aside, what are the unique pressures that chairs face, and are these pressures surmountable, given a pandemic that refuses to fade away, a labile economy, and a politically polarized society? Addressing these questions for us this month is a successful, veteran chair, Dr. David Zvara, who leads the highly regarded department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Zvara, a pleasure to have you. What was your path to chairman?
I always thought I might be interested in...
Comments
Very interesting, mostly right
Terrific article