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A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability

BACKGROUND: Medical oncology is a steadily evolving field of medical practice and professional pathway for doctors, offering value, opportunity and challenge to those who chose this medical specialty. This study examines the experiences of a group of Australian medical oncologists, with an emphasis...

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Autores principales: Broom, Alex, Wong, W. K. Tim, Kirby, Emma, Sibbritt, David, Karikios, Deme, Harrup, Rosemary, Lwin, Zarnie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5130192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27902706
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166302
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author Broom, Alex
Wong, W. K. Tim
Kirby, Emma
Sibbritt, David
Karikios, Deme
Harrup, Rosemary
Lwin, Zarnie
author_facet Broom, Alex
Wong, W. K. Tim
Kirby, Emma
Sibbritt, David
Karikios, Deme
Harrup, Rosemary
Lwin, Zarnie
author_sort Broom, Alex
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Medical oncology is a steadily evolving field of medical practice and professional pathway for doctors, offering value, opportunity and challenge to those who chose this medical specialty. This study examines the experiences of a group of Australian medical oncologists, with an emphasis on their professional practice, career experiences, and existing and emerging challenges across career stages. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 medical oncologists, including advanced trainees, early-career consultants and senior consultants, focusing on: professional values and experiences; career prospects and pathways; and, the nexus of the characteristics of the profession and delivery of care. RESULTS: The following themes were emergent from the interviews: the need for professional reinvention and the pressure to perform; the importance, and often absence, of mentoring and feedback loops; the emotional labour of oncology; and, the impact of cascading workload volume on practice sustainability. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding professional experiences, career trajectories and challenges at the workforce level are crucial for understanding what drives the oncological care day-to-day. The results indicate that there are considerable potential tensions between the realities of professional, workforce demands and expectations for patient care. Such tensions have real and significant consequences on individual medical oncologists with respect to their futures, aspirations, satisfaction with work, caring practices, interactions with patients and potentially therapeutic outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-51301922016-12-15 A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability Broom, Alex Wong, W. K. Tim Kirby, Emma Sibbritt, David Karikios, Deme Harrup, Rosemary Lwin, Zarnie PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Medical oncology is a steadily evolving field of medical practice and professional pathway for doctors, offering value, opportunity and challenge to those who chose this medical specialty. This study examines the experiences of a group of Australian medical oncologists, with an emphasis on their professional practice, career experiences, and existing and emerging challenges across career stages. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 medical oncologists, including advanced trainees, early-career consultants and senior consultants, focusing on: professional values and experiences; career prospects and pathways; and, the nexus of the characteristics of the profession and delivery of care. RESULTS: The following themes were emergent from the interviews: the need for professional reinvention and the pressure to perform; the importance, and often absence, of mentoring and feedback loops; the emotional labour of oncology; and, the impact of cascading workload volume on practice sustainability. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding professional experiences, career trajectories and challenges at the workforce level are crucial for understanding what drives the oncological care day-to-day. The results indicate that there are considerable potential tensions between the realities of professional, workforce demands and expectations for patient care. Such tensions have real and significant consequences on individual medical oncologists with respect to their futures, aspirations, satisfaction with work, caring practices, interactions with patients and potentially therapeutic outcomes. Public Library of Science 2016-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5130192/ /pubmed/27902706 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166302 Text en © 2016 Broom et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Broom, Alex
Wong, W. K. Tim
Kirby, Emma
Sibbritt, David
Karikios, Deme
Harrup, Rosemary
Lwin, Zarnie
A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title_full A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title_fullStr A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title_full_unstemmed A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title_short A Qualitative Study of Medical Oncologists’ Experiences of Their Profession and Workforce Sustainability
title_sort qualitative study of medical oncologists’ experiences of their profession and workforce sustainability
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5130192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27902706
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166302
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