Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first is to assess the current attitude residents have on the future outlook of ophthalmology and their level of satisfaction. The second is to determine whether their outlook differs depending on the current level of training or the program's ranking according to the most recent edition of U.S News Top 10 Hospitals.
Methods:
A link to an anonymous survey was emailed to residents at 12 different institutions across the nation. Future outlook was determined by: 1) using a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "not at all optimistic" and 10 being "extremely optimistic" about future job satisfaction 2) asking whether residents felt they would be fairly compensated (yes/no). Current level of satisfaction was examined by asking if residents would apply to medical school and/or ophthalmology residency again. A two-tailed t-test was used to calculate statistical significance.
Results:
Of the 184 residents invited to participate, 27.7% responded (20 first year, 20 second year and 11 third year residents). Residents reported a mean score of 7.2 in regards to level of optimism of future job satisfaction. First year residents averaged a score of 6.75, 16/20 would apply for ophthalmology residency again and 10 would apply to medical school again. Second year residents averaged a score of 7.15, 16/20 would apply for residency again and 16 would apply to medical school again. Third year residents averaged a score of 8.09, 11/11 would apply for residency again and 9 would apply to medical school again. Of the 51 responses, 17 reported coming from a program ranked as top 10. Optimism for future job satisfaction on average was 8.12 for residents from top 10 programs compared to 6.70 for all others. 81.8% would apply to ophthalmology again compared to 88.2% from top ten programs, 29.4% would not apply again to medical school versus 30.3% from top ten programs. A statistically significant difference (p-value <0.02) was found in regards to optimism about future job satisfaction between residents training at a top ten program versus a non-top ten program.
Conclusions:
The survey suggests that most residents would choose ophthalmology again but nearly half felt that they will not be fairly compensated and almost a third would not choose to do medical school again. Optimism about future job satisfaction was highest for third year residents and significantly higher for residents from top 10 programs.
Keywords: 669 quality of life