Medscape Lifestyle Report 2016: Bias and Burnout (physician by specialty)

Medscape

This year's lifestyle report covers two important aspects of a physician's personal life that could affect treatment: burnout and bias. Over 15,800 physicians responded from over 25 specialties, providing some surprising responses relating to these issues. The survey also repeated some of last year's questions on marijuana use and prescribing to determine whether there were any changes in responses, given its legitimacy in more states. (Note: Values in chart have been rounded and may not match the sums described in the captions.)

This year's Medscape survey, echoing other recent national surveys,^[1,2] strongly suggests that burnout among US physicians has reached a critical level. Burnout in these surveys is defined as loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. In this year's Medscape report, the highest percentages of burnout occurred in critical care, urology, and emergency medicine, all at 55%. Family medicine and internal medicine follow closely at 54%. In last year's report, the highest percentages of burnout were also in critical care (53%) and emergency medicine (52%). Of note, however, burnout rates for all specialties are higher this year. The 2015 survey published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings^[1] compared burnout between 2011 and 2014 and observed an increase in the percentage of physicians reporting at least one burnout symptom, from 45.5% to 54.4%.