Study Finds Doctors More Prone to Burnout

Burnout is significantly more common in physicians—particularly for those on the front line of care—than it is among the general U.S. workforce, researchers found.

Some 37.9% of physicians said they experienced burnout symptoms and 40.2% said they were dissatisfied with their work-life balance, versus 27.8% of those in the general U.S. workforce experiencing burnout symptoms and 23.2% who said they felt overworked, a significant difference (P<0.001 for both), according to Tait Shanafelt, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues.

The study also found that healthcare professionals practicing in fields providing front-line care, such as emergency medicine, were at significantly greater risk than other fields for burnout (P?0.02 for all front-line specialties compared with other specialties), the researchers reported online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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