Medscape has published its 2018 Physician Burnout Report. (You may have to sign in to view.) Congratulations to my field of emergency medicine for moving down from #1 on the list of burnout specialties a few years back to #6 this year. (The rate of burnout was a scary 45% for emergency physicians. To find out why, check out this piece.) Among all physician respondents, 42% reported burnout.
The lowest rates of burnout were found in plastic surgeons (23%), dermatologists (32%) and pathologists (32%). Medscape attributes this fact to these specialists' decreased likelihood of working under emergent conditions. (The highest burnout was among critical care doctors at 48%.)
A higher level of burnout was reported in female physicians (48%) compared to male (38%).
In a different approach to the question, those specialists who reported they were very to extremely happy at work were ophthalmologists (37%), orthopedists (35%), and plastic surgeons (35%).
