FIGURE 5.

External pressures impact academic surgeons’ desire and ability to pursue research in today’s environment. Faculty respondents were asked the following questions: “Do considerations around work-life balance impact your desire/commitment to pursue research?” (A); “Do excessive hospital administrative duties have an impact on your ability to do research?” (B); and “Do you feel pressure to be clinically productive and generate revenue, so much so that it impacts your ability to do research?” (C). In (C), responses include “Yes, ALL the time”, “Yes, but only SOMEtimes”, and “NO”, as shown in x axis. Values represent percentages responding affirmatively. Respondents were also asked whether the current National Institutes of Health (NIH) payline affects their interest in pursuing basic research (D). Options included “Yes, funding levels are so restrictive it is not worth submitting;” “Yes, but NIH funding has always been competitive and so you just have to try harder”; and “No, NIH paylines do not influence my decision to submit grants or do research.” The graph shows basic science faculty only. (E) To determine the relationship between mentoring and research funding, participants were asked to report activities of their primary research mentor, as shown in the figure. The responses are stratified by funding status and include trainees.