Differences in Physician Burnout by Specialty: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Overview

Journal Perm J

Specialties General Medicine
Health Services

Date 2024 Jul 9

PMID 38980769

Authors

Farhad Ghaseminejad

Kira E Rich

Debbie Rosenbaum

Emilia Rydz

Anita Palepu

Peter Dodek

Amy Salmon

Heather A Leitch

Andrea Townson

Diane Lacaille

Vishal P Varshney

Nadia A Khan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of physician burnout increased notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, but whether measures of burnout differed based on physician specialty is unknown. The authors sought to determine the prevalence of burnout, worklife conflict, and intention to quit among physicians from different specialties.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional online survey of physicians working at 2 urban hospitals in Vancouver, Canada, from August to October 2021. Responses were categorized by specialty (including surgical and nonsurgical), and data about whether physicians provided frontline patient care during COVID-19 were also included. Physician burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Results: The survey response rate was 42% (209/498). The overall prevalence of burnout was 69%. Burnout was not significantly different by specialty or between frontline COVID-19 specialties compared with other specialties. Physicians in surgical specialties were more likely to report work-life conflict than those in nonsurgical specialties (p = 0.012). Differences in intention to quit among specialties were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, physician burnout was high across physicians, without significant differences between specialties, highlighting the need to support all physicians.

Citing Articles

Organisational factors associated with burnout among emergency and internal medicine physicians: a qualitative study.

Ghaseminejad F, Rich K, Rosenbaum D, Rydz E, Chow L, Salmon A BMJ Open. 2025; 15(1):e085973.

PMID: 39880435 PMC: 11781124. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085973.

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