Healthcare has continued to face residual COVID-19 challenges, with one of the most severe being provider and staff burnout.
The American Medical Association conducted a survey that received more than 13,000 responses from physician and nonphysician providers in 30 states looking at burnout and its impact on the industry, according to a Dec. 18 article on the AMA website. The results, which the AMA has reported on throughout 2023, reflect 2022 trends.
Here are five important burnout stats from the survey to note:
1. Half of practicing physicians are reporting burnout in 2023. While burnout fell from its all-time high in 2021, it is a problem that is not going away.
2. Six physician specialties — emergency medicine, hospital medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN and internal medicine — are at high risk for burnout, citing excessive stress, long hours and emotional exhaustion.
3. Female physicians face a different set of challenges resulting in higher levels of burnout than their male counterparts. Female physicians are often left juggling long working hours to battle systemic inequalities.
4. Burnout rates and job satisfaction differ by how long physicians have been practicing. Often, practitioners face the highest rates of burnout mid-career. Those who have been treating patients for between six and 10 years report the highest rates of burnout.
5. About 40% of practicing physicians have plans to leave their current roles. Many young and mid-career physicians have plans to depart in the next two years, signaling the possibility of more staffing shortages to come.