Burnout is up compared to last year, with nearly 50% of physicians now affected
Physicians working across all medical specialties are more stressed than ever, with 47% of the workforce feeling burned out, according to new survey data from Medscape.
That figure is up from last year’s mark of 42%, with major increases among emergency settings and providers. The findings are based on responses taken from more than 13,000 physicians practicing across 29-plus specialties.
Outpatient clinics recorded the highest proportion of burned-out physicians at 58%, up from 2021’s mark of 46%, representing the largest year-over-year increase among all healthcare settings. Fifty percent of docs working at healthcare organizations reported burnout, while 48% of hospital-based physicians said the same. Office-based solo practices came in at the bottom of the list (39%) followed by “other” (46%).
Looking at individual specialties, 60% of emergency medicine physicians said they’re suffering from burnout, which led all others and proved to be a dramatic uptick from the 43% recorded in 2021. Emergency docs were followed by those working in critical care (56%), OB/GYN (53%), infectious disease (51%) and family medicine (51%).
The least burned-out specialties included public health & preventative medicine (26%), dermatology (33%) pathology (35%) and oncology (36%).
What’s concerning is that 54% of respondents feel that burnout is having a strong/severe impact on their lives, and 22% still say it has a moderate affect. Only 24% claim it has little to no impact, according to the survey data.
“I have little motivation to reach out to others; my patience is decreased and my irritability has increased,” one doctor said to Medscape.
COVID-19 is at least partially responsible for these figures, with 10% listing the stress of treating infected patients as their top contributor to burnout, while 12% cited distancing and societal issues surrounding the virus as their top problem. Bureaucratic tasks (60%), lack of respect from coworkers (39%) and long hours (34%) all topped the list.
“I have no more patience for friends who are against the vaccine and minimizing the effects of COVID, while I’m at work risking my health and working crazy hours every day to treat people who are ill from the virus,” one physician said Friday.
Medscape surveyed physicians between June 29 through September 26 for their findings. Read the full results here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.