Table 1.
Characteristics of National Sample of VA Primary Care Providers (n = 1543)
| Characteristic | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Provider type | |
| Physician (MD or DO) | 1056 (68.5) |
| Nurse practitioner | 397 (25.8) |
| Physician assistant | 89 (5.8) |
| Gender | |
| Male | 541 (38.2) |
| Female | 876 (61.8) |
| Age | |
| < 25 years old | 1 (0.1) |
| 25–29 years old | 9 (0.6) |
| 30–39 years old | 176 (12.5) |
| 40–49 years old | 355 (25.1) |
| 50–59 years old | 485 (34.3) |
| 60 + years old | 388 (27.4) |
| Race | |
| White | 1001 (71.5) |
| Black or African American | 55 (3.9) |
| American Indian or Alaskan Native | 9 (0.6) |
| Asian | 240 (17.1) |
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander | 6 (0.4) |
| Two or more races | 89 (6.4) |
| Ethnicity | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 106 (7.4) |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 1335 (92.6) |
| Years in VA practice | |
| < 5 years | 619 (42.0) |
| 5 + years | 855 (58.0) |
| Years in current PACT team | |
| <=2 years | 100 (6.8) |
| > 2 years | 1369 (93.2) |
| Supervisory level | |
| None | 604 (40.9) |
| Team Lead (informal) | 667 (41.2) |
| First Line Supervisor | 130 (8.8) |
| Manager | 76 (5.2) |
| Time spent in daily PACT huddles | |
| Do not huddle | 219 (14.8) |
| <=15 min | 769 (52.1) |
| 16–30 min | 353 (23.9) |
| > 30 min | 136 (9.2) |
| Received adequate education/training to function at top of scope of practice | |
| Disagree | 121 (8.2) |
| Somewhat disagree | 123 (8.3) |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 184 (12.5) |
| Somewhat agree | 261 (17.7) |
| Agree | 764 (51.7) |
| Don’t know | 24 (1.6) |
| PACT team is fully staffed | |
| Yes | 786 (58.7) |
| No | 554 (41.3) |
| PACT team had changes or loss in staff over the past 12 months | |
| Yes | 986 (68.1) |
| No | 462 (31.9) |
| PACT team type | |
| Primary care | 1207 (81.8) |
| Women’s health | 116 (7.9) |
| Home-based primary care | 78 (5.3) |
| Other | 74 (5.0) |
| Work at a VA Medical Center | |
| Yes | 758 (53.1) |
| No | 669 (46.9) |
| M (SD) | |
| Primary care provider-to-staff ratio | 2.46 (0.62) |
| Observed-to-expected panel size ratio | 0.77 (0.16) |
| n (%) | |
| Overall burnout | |
| No burnout; enjoy work | 197 (13.1) |
| No burnout; occasional symptoms of stress | 529 (35.9) |
| One or more symptoms of burnout | 423 (28.6) |
| Constant symptoms of burnout | 183 (12.4) |
| Completely burned out | 145 (9.8) |
| Frequency of burnout | |
| Never | 101 (6.8) |
| A few times a year or less | 262 (17.7) |
| Once a month or less | 183 (12.4) |
| A few times a month | 246 (16.7) |
| Once a week | 116 (7.9) |
| A few times a week | 310 (21.0) |
| Every day | 259 (17.5) |
Note: Responses from providers, excluding trainees, executives, and senior executives; values are missing for some characteristics; column percentages were calculated with denominators of only non-missing values for each characteristic. Abbreviations: M mean; SD standard deviation; PACT patient-aligned care team; VA Veterans Health Administration