The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2020 State of the Society Survey is now available in the SGO Store. The PDF version of the 80-page document is $150 for SGO members, $300 for non-members; and the print version is $225 for members, $600 for non-member plus $12 shipping and handling. Every five years, SGO conducts a member demographic and practice survey that provides members with detailed information on practice characteristics, activities, professional liability, personal income, and revenues as it relates to their gynecologic oncology practice. For the first time, advanced practice providers (APPs)—such as nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA)—participated in the full survey, and this is also the first time that the majority of the survey’s respondents (54%) were female.
The SGO 2020 State of the Society Survey questionnaire was developed by the SGO State of the Society Survey Task Force, headed by co-chairs Barbara Goff, MD, and David Kushner, MD, Highlights from the 2020 State of the Society Survey were also shared in June on “The Big Reveal: 2020 State of the Society Survey- Patterns, Progress and Pathways to your Professional Future” webinar.
Dr. Goff noted that the 2020 State of the Society Survey includes important details that members won’t be able to find anywhere else, including the latest information on salary, support staff, vacation time, call coverage and the weekly/monthly practice of a large number of gynecologic oncologists, APPs and international members.
“This allows our members to see how their own practice compares and if they should be negotiating for more,” said Dr. Goff. “There is also very interesting data on clinical practice issues like use of minimally invasive surgery for cervical cancer, changing patterns of chemotherapy administration, sentinel nodes and molecular profiling of cancers. All of the data is trended over the past five to ten years. The wellness data is also new and is compared to a previous research study from five years ago.”
Dr. Goff explained that the new information on APPs is an important addition to the State of the Society Survey.
“The APPs are really a critical part of the gyn onc team and are embedded in most practices across the country,” she said. “APPs are involved in most aspects of care, although for most of them the focus is on the outpatient setting, doing new and return visits, managing chemotherapy and performing office procedures.”
The 2020 survey included wellness and burnout questions for the first time, and the data indicated that 61% of female and 39% of male US gyn oncs “feel overly stressed or their life is unmanageable.”
“Both Dr. Kushner and myself were very concerned about these findings,” said Dr. Goff. “Dr. Kushner is one of the Chairs of the Wellness Committee and addressing this high level of burn out is a major priority for the -committee as well as the SGO leadership.”
The 2020 survey also showed salary differences between male and female members. Dr. Goff noted that for most women their salaries are less than men in all categories, but there are also lower self-reported Work Relative Value Units (wRVUs), which may be a contributing factor to the differences in self-reported salary. SGO will be doing further analyses to address the gender pay gap.
Dr. Goff added that the survey’s high overall response rate—48%—makes the 2020 State of the Society Survey a reliable reference for SGO members who want to see how their personal practices compare with others across the US and even internationally.