3542 - Impact of Role Identification Badge Placards on Radiation Oncology Staff Job Satisfaction and Wellbeing

E. L. McKone¹, C. N. Day², P. J. Dizona³, H. J. Gunn⁴, T. G. Smith¹, A. E. Garda¹, K. S. Corbin¹, and R. Phillips¹; ¹Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, ²Department of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, ³Department of Clinical Trials and Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, ⁴Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Purpose/Objective(s): Professional role misidentification in medicine can cause psychological burden and work stress. Studies show “Doctor” badges for resident physicians can reduce role misidentification and perception of gender bias but may have unintended effects, such as reinforcing negative hierarchical sentiments. “Doctor” badges were mandated for all residents and optional for other physicians at our institution. We evaluated the impact within our department on culture, quality of life (QOL), and work. Materials/

Methods: Department staff were invited to anonymously participate in 2 identical IRB-approved surveys, distributed before and after “Doctor” badges. No other role badges were available. Pre- and post-survey responses were paired using respondent-generated unique identifiers. Exploratory statistical analyses for Likert questions across time and role with no adjustment for multiplicity were performed with p<0.05 considered significant. A shift by =2 Likert points for paired responses defined a change. Natural language processing methods were used to analyze free-text comments.
Results: 326 total responses were sorted by clinical (n=175/326) or non-clinical job role (n=151/326). At least 6 resident and 4 staff physicians wore badges during study (n=10/50). Respondents to all surveys (n=326) agreed (61.2-65.4%) their job role is clearly identified. However, all somewhat agreed with misidentification by patients (31.3-42.3%) but not co-workers. Clinical staff were more affected than non-clinical staff on both surveys (60.9-66.7% vs. 37.7-43.3% agree, p<0.05), except physicians who strongly disagree to misidentification by patients (40.5-45.8%). Most nurses, advanced practice providers, and physicians agreed that appropriate workplace identification (ID) positively impacts their QOL or work. Respondents to all surveys agreed (55.8-60.3%) badges for all roles would have a positive impact, except physicists who were neutral. Clinical (n=49/78, 62.8%) and non-clinical (n=29/78, 37.2%) roles among paired responses were compared. Clinical staff agree appropriate role ID positively impacts QOL, while non-clinical staff are neutral or disagree (p<0.05). Clinical staff disagreed with positive impact of physician-only (PO) badges while non-clinical staff somewhat agree or are neutral (p<0.05). No significant changes in paired responses were seen after intervention. Sentiment analysis on 93 comments from both surveys using the Jockers-Rinker dictionary found average sentiment increased from negative to positive for the clinical group and remained positive for the non-clinical group.
Conclusion: Appropriate role ID impacts the QOL or work for clinical staff. PO badges had a neutral to positive impact in our department. Role badges for all clinical roles may be of value. We are exploring best practices for departmental implementation of visible role identifiers to maximize positive effects on staff wellbeing and mitigate negative consequences.