Monday, May 14, 2018

Physician Burnout Report 2018

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%).