Today, the medical media, meaning medical journals and physician newsletters, have an incredible degree of concern about physician burnout. Under every rock they seem to find a physician who, for numerous reasons, has become disillusioned with the practice of medicine and is threatening to quit or has already reached that decision. It is projected that by 2036, 86,000 physicians will have left practice and burnout is the major reason. Statistics say burned out doctors are 1.5 times more likely to quit.
An article from a 2025 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine reports on a study of 700,000 physicians whose practice habits were tracked from 2013 to 2019. During that 6-year period, the percentage of physicians leaving practice rose from 3.5% to 4.9%. The study was designed to determine which specialties were more likely to force physicians away as opposed to the specialties that were still going strong.
Specialties whose doctors had the Highest Intent to leave are:
Anesthesiology
Vascular surgery
Radiology
General Surgery
ENT
Pulmonology
Cardiology
Psychiatry
Gastroenterology
Ophthalmology
These were the unhappy physicians.
Specialties whose doctors had the Lowest Intent to leave:
Dermatology
Infectious Disease
Pediatrics
Neurology
Pathology
Hospitalist
Family medicine
Emergency Medicine
OB/GYN
These were the happy and satisfied physicians.
The investigators identified several “universal themes” that contributed to physician discontent. Overwork that led to isolation from friends and family, loneliness, depression, and fatigue was a huge factor. The gravity and responsibility of making quick life and death decisions is a burden for many. Administrative hurdles like prior authorizations and paperwork that requires physician input infringe upon the physician’s time that might be spent pursuing enjoyable activities. Unreasonable expectations from patients and families have become factors as well, and miserably inadequate reimbursement from Medicare, commercial payers, and other entities is often the backbreaking “straw.”
The study concluded that prevention of burnout begins when the medical student is deciding a career direction and having the foresight to choose a specialty that “drives you as an individual.” If you’re a hands-on person, choose a specialty with a heavy procedural component. You stay busy with the activities you enjoy. If you’re a technophile, choose radiology, or radiation oncology that are highly technical. If you’re an intellectual, nephrology, internal medicine, neurology, or hematology-oncology are areas that will put your reasoning skills to task frequently. If you’re bored by limiting your practice to one narrow area, your choice should be family medicine where a different challenge lies behind each exam room door.
If you’re feeling the pangs discontent and disillusionment you can do a self-assessment of your burnout state by evaluating several practice parameters and questioning yourself.
Do I work more hours than ever before? Do I often miss family dinner and eat alone?
At the end of the day, do I feel satisfaction for the work I have done?
In the middle of day, do I have to stop, go to a quiet place and calm down?
Do I frequently have thoughts of despair, giving up, and leaving?
Do I feel valued by the organization that employs me? Undercompensated?
If so, it’s time to acknowledge it and begin measures to counteract it before things have gone too far. Help and solutions are available, but recognition and remediation must be done first.
References: Shortsleeve C. Something died in me: Why dedicated Doctors Quit Medicine. medscape.com 2026 May 28.
Loudin A. Consider this burnout survey when considering your specialty. medscape.com 2026 May 19.
