Does physician caseload correlate with burnout?

Of the 949,658 actively practicing physicians in the U.S., 63 percent have been burned out for 13 months or more — an 11 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels.

Beyond burnout, the healthcare workforce lost 333,942 providers in 2021. The ongoing shortage of health professionals has put more pressure on physicians who remain in practice. 

There is an average of 344 people per physician of all specialties, according to a report published Dec. 31, 2021, by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the most recent data available. 

Here is a comparison of each specialty's caseload and the levels of burnout among providers, ranked from highest caseload to lowest using data from Medscape's "Physician Burnout and Depression Report."

Specialty*

No. of active physicians

Patients per physician

Rate reporting burnout

Pulmonary medicine

4,867

67,099

54%

Allergy and immunology

5,009

65,197

49%

Rheumatology

6,420

60,867

50%

Plastic surgery

7,228

45,181

46%

Diabetes and endocrinology

8,246

39,603

51%

Otolaryngology

9,616

33,961

49%

Infectious diseases

9,193

32,944

58%

Urology

10,081

32,395

47%

Nephrology

11,554

28,265

44%

Pathology

12,180

26,812

39%

Dermatology

12,767

25,579

49%

Neurology

5,748

23,574

55%

Critical care

14,159

23,064

55%

Gastroenterology

15,678

20,930

52%

Oncology

16,673

19,587

52%

Orthopedics

18,469

17,682

45%

Ophthalmology

18,948

17,235

48%

Cardiology

22,262

14,669

43%

General surgery

24,881

13,125

51%

Radiology

27,197

12,008

54%

Psychiatry

38,424

8,499

47%

Anesthesiology

42,264

7,727

55%

Obstetrics and gynecology

42,496

7,685

58%

Emergency medicine

46,857

6,969

65%

Family medicine

118,641

2,753

57%

Internal medicine

120,342

2,741

60%

Pediatrics

60,305

1,720

59%

*Only specialities with available burnout rate data are included.

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