P3.A010: Self-Valuation and Self-Compassion in Primary Care Pediatric Clinicians

Background: The Pediatric Physicians’ Organization at Boston Children’s Hospital (PPOC) is a large pediatric independent practice association consisting of over 70 practices across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with practice sizes varying from 1 to 39 primary care clinicians (PCCs). It is well accepted that rates of burnout in physicians increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with higher increases in female clinicians. In the year following the pandemic, we sought to identify potential drivers of burnout by assessing clinician self-valuation (SV) and self-compassion.

Methods: The Well-being Committee of the PPOC has conducted an electronic and confidential survey containing the Professional Fulfillment Index and a variety of demographic characteristics annually since 2020. In 2023, additional questions about self-valuation and self-compassion were added. Four questions regarding SV were scored on a 5-point Likert scale (0 to 4), with a total score ranging from 0 to 16. Higher scores are associated with higher SV. A positive SV score was defined as greater than 8.
The results were analyzed by bivariable relative risk (RR). A separate female Nurse Practitioner (NP)/Physician’s Assistant (PA) was created due to the strong association of female gender and NP/PA.

Results: 1. Overall, female clinicians report statistically significant lower SV scores compared to male clinicians. This significance persists for female physicians compared to male clinicians. Female NP/PAs had similar levels of SV as female physicians, although the RR was not statistically significant due to insufficient power.
2. Clinicians, regardless of gender, who have children at home report statistically significant lower SV scores compared to those clinicians who do not have children at home.

Conclusion: Additional work about how to improve the self-valuation and self-compassion of at-risk groups is needed. Further programming should address the needs of female clinicians, especially female physicians, and those with children at home.