Networking Matters: A Social Network Analysis of the Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine

ABSTRACT

Theory: Networking has positive effects on career development; however, personal characteristics of group members such as gender or diversity may foster or hinder member connectedness. Social network analysis explores interrelationships between people in groups by measuring the strength of connection between all possible pairs in a given network. Social network analysis has rarely been used to examine network connections among members in an academic medical society. This study seeks to ascertain the strength of connection between program directors in the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) and its Education Innovations Project subgroup and to examine possible associations between connectedness and characteristics of program directors and programs. Hypotheses: We hypothesize that connectedness will be measurable within a large academic medical society and will vary significantly for program directors with certain measurable characteristics (e.g., age, gender, rank, location, burnout levels, desire to resign). Method: APDIM program directors described levels of connectedness to one another on the 2012 APDIM survey. Using social network analysis, we ascertained program director connectedness by measuring out-degree centrality, in-degree centrality, and eigenvector centrality, all common measures of connectedness. Results: Higher centrality was associated with completion of the APDIM survey, being in a university-based program, Educational Innovations Project participation, and higher academic rank. Centrality did not vary by gender; international medical graduate status; previous chief resident status; program region; or levels of reported program director burnout, callousness, or desire to resign. Conclusions: In this social network analysis of program directors within a large academic medical society, we found that connectedness was related to higher academic rank and certain program characteristics but not to other program director characteristics like gender or international medical graduate status. Further research is needed to optimize our understanding of connection in organizations such as these and to determine which strategies promote valuable connections.

KEYWORDS:

• medical education–postgraduate
• continuing professional development
• organizational behavior
• social science

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Alisa N. Strauss, Ph.D., who assisted with creating the SNA schematic diagrams.

Although we are reporting the results of the APDIM Survey Committee, we are not presuming to speak for the organization and our article does not constitute an official policy statement of APDIM, the APDIM Council, or any other organization with which any of the authors may be affiliated. We are grateful to the Mayo Clinic Survey Research Center for assistance with the survey design and data collection and to the program directors of APDIM who completed the survey.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, on behalf of the APDIM Survey and Scholarship Committee, and in part by the Mayo Clinic IM Residency Office of Educational Innovations as part of the ACGME Educational Innovations Project.