The specialties with the highest rates of physician burnout

Forty-two percent of physicians reported being burned out, according to a Medscape survey of more than 12,000 physicians in various specialties from August to November 2020.

The results of the survey were published as the Medscape National Physician Burnout & Suicide Report 2021, which provides a list of specialties ranked by percentage of physicians who reported burnout. Critical care was the highest with 51%, followed by rheumatology with 50%. Infectious disease and urology were tied for the third highest with 49%, followed by pulmonary medicine (48%) and Neurology (47%).

Further, 79% of respondents said their burnout began before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest contributors of burnout were "too many bureaucratic tasks" (58%) and "spending too many hours at work" (37%).

Source: Medscape