Burnout in Physicians _ ______________________________________________________________________
family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, and internal medicine being the specialties with the highest rates of burnout [47]. The 2021 AMA/Mayo Clinic survey noted that burnout greatly increased among physicians practicing in emergency medicine, critical care medicine, hospital medicine, and infectious disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2024 Medscape report continues to bear this out ( Table 4 ) [124; 129]. The rate of burnout in emergency medicine increased from a reported 48% to 63%, while subspecialities of internal medicine such as pulmonology and oncology increased from 39% to 50% and 39% to 53%, respectively. Obstetrics/gynecology rose from 45% to 53% between 2019 and 2025. While some special- ties, such as urology, neurology, and physical medicine and BURNOUT RATE ACCORDING TO PHYSICIAN SPECIALTY, 2024 Physician Specialty Burnout Rate Urology 49% Neurology 44% Physical medicine and rehabilitation 46% Internal medicine 51% Emergency medicine 63% Family medicine 51% Diabetes and endocrinology 44% Surgery, general 45% Gastroenterology 50% Obstetrics/gynecology (women’s health) 53% Radiology 51% Critical care 45% Cardiology 47% Anesthesiology 50% Pediatrics 51% Oncology 53% Psychiatry 39% Pulmonary medicine 50% Dermatology 46% Orthopedics 44% Otolaryngology 43% Plastic surgery 37% Ophthalmology 39% Pathology 41% Nephrology 46% Source: [129] Table 4
rehabilitation, have shown slightly lower rates of burnout, the general trend across specialties shows an increase both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic [129]. The 2025 Medscape report also includes information on the degree of burnout, noting the percentage of respondents who reported severe burnout (a score of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 defined as “so severe that I’m thinking of leaving medicine”). An estimated 14% of men and 16% of women surveyed reported this most severe type of burnout. A higher percentage of physicians were in the middle range (rating a 3), 38% in men and 35% in women. Perhaps more concerningly, however, was the percentage of physicians who have reported experiencing burnout for more than two years, which increased in the 2025 report to 42% [129]. MOST COMMON CAUSES OF BURNOUT The job-related factors contributing to burnout among physi- cians are similar to those in non-healthcare settings. The most commonly reported causes of stress, job dissatisfaction, and burnout—across career stages and specialties—are work over- load, inadequate work-life balance, and lack of control over one’s work, causes that are in line with the work environment factors described by Maslach [6; 11; 29; 38; 40; 45; 52]. In addi- tion, physicians are challenged by many stressors unique to the practice of medicine, such as practice demands, evolving health policy, difficult or complex patients, and an inability to keep up with research ( Table 5 ) [26; 31; 53]. Information technology has changed physicians’ work environments, and this, too, is a factor contributing to burnout. Again, the importance of these causative factors varies across specialties. MOST COMMON CAUSES OF BURNOUT AMONG PHYSICIANS Work overload Spending too many hours at work Too many patient appointments in a day Income not high enough Increasing computerization of practice Impact of the Affordable Care Act Lack of control over one’s work Too many difficult or complex patients Inability to provide patients with the preferred quality of care
Inability to keep up with research Lack of professional fulfillment Source: Compiled by Author
Table 5
Work-Life Balance Nearly half of physicians report that their job is “extremely stressful,” and 80% say they feel “overextended,” “overworked,” or “at full capacity” [37; 53]. Physicians also note that they have “too many patient appointments,” leading to increased time pressure during visits, which has been strongly associated with
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