• Liselotte N Dyrbye, Wayne Sotile, Sonja Boone, Colin P West, Litjen Tan, Daniel Satele, Jeff Sloan, Mick Oreskovich, and Tait Shanafelt.
• Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA, Dyrbye.liselotte@mayo.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2014 Jan 1; 29 (1): 155-61.

BackgroundWork-home conflicts (WHC) threaten work-life balance among physicians, especially those in dual career relationships. In this study, we analyzed factors associated with WHC for physicians and their employed partners.MethodsWe surveyed 89,831 physicians from all specialty disciplines listed in the Physician Masterfile. Of the 7,288 (27.7 %) physicians who completed the survey, 1,644 provided the e-mail contact information of their partner. We surveyed these partners and 891 (54 %) responded. Burnout, quality of life (QOL), and depression were measured using validated instruments in both surveys. Satisfaction with career, work-life balance, and personal relationships, as well as experience of WHC were also evaluated.ResultsWHC within the previous 3 weeks were commonly experienced by physicians and their employed partners (44.3 % and 55.7 %, respectively). On multivariate analysis, greater work hours for physicians and their employed partners were independently associated with WHC (OR 1.31 and 1.23 for each additional 10 h, respectively, both p < 0.0001). Physicians and partners who had experienced a recent WHC were more likely to have symptoms of burnout (47.1 % vs. 26.6 % for physicians with and without WHC; 42.4 % vs. 23.8 % for partners with and without WHC, both p < 0.0001).ConclusionsWHC are commonly experienced by physicians and their employed partners. These conflicts may be a major contributor to personal distress for physicians and their partners.

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