Many Mohs surgeons are struggling on the job, and women seem to be especially vulnerable, a new survey suggests.
In a measurement of well-being, 40% of members of the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) who responded to the survey — and 52% of women — scored at a level considered "at-risk" for adverse outcomes, such as poor quality of life.
"I didn't think the numbers were going to be that high," said study author Kemi O. Awe, MD, PhD, a dermatology resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, especially in light of Mohs surgery's reputation as being an especially desirable field in dermatology. She presented the findings at the annual meeting of the ACMS.
Awe, who hopes to become a Mohs surgeon herself, said in an interview that she launched the study in part to understand how colleagues are faring. "Dermatology is known as a specialty that has a good lifestyle and less stress, but the rate of burnout is actually going up."
For the study, Awe and colleagues sent a survey to ACMS members between October and December 2020. The 91 respondents had an average age of 46, and 58% were male. Most practiced in academic facilities (56%), while the rest worked in private practice (39%) or multispecialty (4%) practices.
