Nine out of TEN American doctors say they suffer from burnout ‘regularly’ and 60 percent have considered quitting, research shows

More than 90 percent of physicians in America report regularly feeling burned out, while 60 percent say they have considered leaving the profession altogether.

This is evident from a study by health company Athenahealth, which interviewed a thousand doctors across the country at the end of last year and published their results today.

Many doctors said excessive paperwork and patient demands led to their burnout, and they had to work an average of 15 extra hours per week to manage their workload.

In recent years, the number of physician burnouts has increased due to staff shortages in healthcare. An estimated 250,000 doctor or nurse jobs are currently unfilled in the US.

The report was commissioned by Athenahealth and is the latest in their Physician Sentiment Survey (PSS), which uncovers feelings among staff.

Of the doctors, 750 were general practitioners and 253 were specialists.

They were interviewed for 12 to 13 minutes over two weeks in late October and early November last year.

At that point, the US healthcare system began to struggle with a ‘triple-demic’ of Covid, influenza and RSV for the second year in a row.

At the height of the tripledemic, many children’s hospitals were reportedly overwhelmed with patients.

The survey also found that 60 percent of physicians felt they could not spend enough time with each patient.

And 75 percent said they felt overwhelmed by patients’ “excessive communication demands,” such as frequent texting, calling and emailing outside of scheduled visits.

Dr. Nele Jessel, chief medical officer at Athenahealth, said technology can help ease the workload for doctors.

She pointed in particular to AI, which she suggested could help them respond to patient requests.

“If we get this right,” she said, “we will use the technology to reduce administrative work and increase efficiency in a way that allows physicians to refocus on their patients.”

The previous survey, conducted in January 2022, found that 49 percent of physicians interviewed said they were burned out.

Overall, 63 percent said they were overwhelmed, while 68 percent said they did not have enough time to spend with patients.

It comes as experts warn of a crisis ‘of enormous proportions’ hitting the country’s healthcare system – with too few roles being filled.

According to estimates, there were approximately 193,000 vacancies for nurses in the US in 2023, and approximately 60,000 vacancies for physicians.

Many hospital systems have also been rocked by staff strikes in recent months amid disputes over pay and working conditions.