title: Tried and true: a survey of successfully promoted academic hospitalists.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Academic hospital medicine is a new and rapidly growing field. Hospitalist faculty members often fill roles not typically held by other academic faculty, maintain heavy clinical workloads, and participate in nontraditional activities. Because of these differences, there is concern about how academic hospitalists may fare in the promotions process.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine factors critical to the promotion of successfully promoted hospitalists who have achieved the rank of either associate professor or professor.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three hospitalist faculty members at 22 academic medical centers promoted to associate professor rank or higher between 1995 and 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  Respondents were asked to describe their institution, its promotions process, and the activities contributing to their promotion. We identified trends across respondents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-six hospitalists responded, representing 20 institutions (79% response rate). Most achieved promotion in a nontenure track (70%); an equal number identified themselves as clinician-administrators and clinician educators (40%). While hospitalists were engaged in a wide range of activities in the traditional domains of service, education, and research, respondents considered peer-reviewed publication to be the most important activity in achieving promotion. Qualitative responses demonstrated little evidence that being a hospitalist was viewed as a hindrance to promotion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Successful promotion in academic hospital medicine depends on accomplishment in traditional academic domains, raising potential concerns for academic hospitalists with less traditional roles. This study may provide guidance for early-career academic hospitalists and program leaders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Leykum@uthscsa.edu
authors.forename: Luci K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Leykum
authors.forename: Vikas I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Parekh
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: Romsai T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Boonyasai
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Centor
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D000124:Achievement; D002322:Career Mobility; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000592:standards; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans