Study links leadership behavior with radiologist turnover
New research shows a connection between leadership behavior and turnover among radiologists and other physicians, with key implications for other organizations.
Given the current shortage of radiologists, healthcare organizations are increasingly competing for talent, which is expected to intensify in the next decade. Recruitment can be costly, with organizations seeking to up their game to minimize turnover and optimize retention, experts write in JAMA Network Open.
Previous studies have unearthed links between leadership behavior and physician fulfillment, values alignment and intent to leave. Researchers with Stanford University aimed to better understand how leadership directly impacts physicians, conducting a large-scale, nearly decade-long investigation.
“Although U.S. healthcare organizations are attempting to improve physician retention, national data indicate that physician turnover is increasing,” lead author Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, with Stanford’s Department of Medicine, and colleagues wrote Wednesday. “There are minimal data on the associations between physicians’ assessment of their immediate supervisor and alignment of individual and organizational values and objective turnover,” they added.
Shanafelt and colleagues sought to assess doctors’ evaluations of their immediate supervisor, perceived values-alignment with the organization, and objective turnover during the following two years. The study incorporated nearly 7,400 responses from over 3,100 physicians including a handful of radiologists and radiation oncologists. Physicians completed five surveys between 2016 to 2024, with the authors using tools such as the Mayo Clinic Leadership Impact Index to measure perceptions.
Each one-point higher score for leader behavior and organizational values alignment was associated with decreased two-year turnover for physicians, the study found. After adjusting for various mitigating factors, each one-point difference in leadership behavior scores remained associated with two-year turnover. Meanwhile, the association between values alignment and turnover was no longer present, after these adjustments.
When pairing individual-level data from docs completing consecutive surveys, each one-point increase in leader behavior and values alignment scores between surveys was tied to reduced turnover. On multivariable analysis adjusting for age, sex and other factors, respondents indicating moderate, likely or definite intent to leave were at higher risk of objective two-year turnover.
“These findings suggest that organizations seeking to promote physician retention should conduct leadership assessments, attend to leadership development, and foster values alignment with their physicians,” the authors concluded.
The study does not offer granular results at the radiologist and radiation oncologist level. Altogether, between 66 to 76 (or 4.5% to 5.7% of the survey total) radiologists participated in the survey depending on the year, and between 19 to 44 RO specialists (1.5% to 2.8%).
Read more, including potential study limitations, in JAMA.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.