--- title: The Medscape 2021 Physician Burnout Survey description: Highlights and commentary on the 2021 Medscape Physician Burnout Survey and Suicide Report image: https://www.thehappymd.com/hubfs/medscape-2021-Physician-burnout-and-suicide-study_1.jpg --- [![Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W-1.jpg?width=995&height=146&name=Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W-1.jpg "Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W")](https://www.thehappymd.com) ## **The Creative Destruction of Physician Burnout ** [![prevent doctor burnout matrix](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/263814/da1e787d-095f-4485-9d4d-9a9bc4195d86.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/263814/da1e787d-095f-4485-9d4d-9a9bc4195d86) # [The Medscape 2021 Physician Burnout Survey](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/medscape-2021-physician-burnout-survey-report-highlights-commentary-dike-drummond-md) Posted by [Dike Drummond MD](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/author/dike-drummond-md) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ## [![logo](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/2021%20IMAGES/2021%20BLOG%20IMAGES/2021-01-24_12-12-54.jpg?width=150&name=2021-01-24_12-12-54.jpg)](https://support.thehappymd.com/quadruple-aim-physician-leadership-retreat-2021)Medscape's annual Physician Burnout Study is out As usual it has a number of interesting findings and a number of things you will notice don't change from year to year ... like burnout rates from 40 - 50% unfortunately. ## Let me give you the highlights and my comments in this blog post. The full survey is behind a login at Medscape [at this URL](https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2021-lifestyle-burnout-6013456) ============ Get the Tools and Support to Be  An *Effective Physician Wellness Champion* **Quadruple Aim Physician Leadership Retreat** [**Full Details at This Link**](https://support.thehappymd.com/quadruple-aim-physician-leadership-retreat-2021) ============ [![medscape-2021-Physician-burnout-and-suicide-study_1](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/2021%20IMAGES/2021%20SOCIA%20MEDIA%20IMAGES/medscape-2021-Physician-burnout-and-suicide-study_1.jpg?width=300&name=medscape-2021-Physician-burnout-and-suicide-study_1.jpg)](https://support.thehappymd.com/quadruple-aim-physician-leadership-retreat-2021) **Survey Methodology:** - Surveys filled out between August - November, 2020. So note the title of the Study Report is misleading. This is a 2020 survey report. - Total of 12,339 practicing US physicians - 10 minute online survey From the looks of the results it appears to have been selections from response options provided by the survey rather than typing in your answers.   ## Survey Highlights and Commentary: **PHYSICIAN BURNOUT PREVALENCE** 42% of physicians reported burnout in this 2020 Survey. --- **SPECIALTY SPECIFIC BURNOUT PREVALENCE** There was a change in the lineup of specialties with the highest burnout prevalence. This is likely due to the COVID-19 effect. *2019 the highest burnout specialties were:* Urology Neurology Nephrology Endocrinology and Family Practice *In 2020 the top of the table were:* Critical Care Rheumatology Infectious Disease --- **GENDER DIFFERENCES:** 36% of male doctors reported burnout 51% of female doctors reported burnout --- **COVID-19 INFLUENCE:** *Did your burnout start before or after COVID-19?* 79% before 21% after COMMENT: I am pretty sure that for everyone whose burnout started prior to COVID-19, the pandemic made it worse. This is likely true whether COVID-19 overwhelmed you with patients or furloughed you and your staff at the peaks of the waves. --- **SPECIFIC BURNOUT CAUSES:** *What contributes most to your burnout?* 58% Too many bureaucratic tasks 37% Spending too many hours at work 37% Lack of respect from administrators, colleagues or staff --- **SEVERITY OF BUROUT IMPACT:** *How severe is your burnout?* 24% Has a moderate impact on my life 47% Has a strong/severe impact on my life COMMENT: So 71% of physicians who admit to burnout also admit that their burnout has had a moderate to severe impact on their life. That is a total of 30% of your physician workforce! **This should be keeping CEO's and CMO's up at night across the USA.** --- **BIGGEST WORKPLACE CONCERN:** *Which workplace issue concerns you most?* #1 for both men and women was: Work-life balance: 42% of women 48% of men Ranked this first. The next highest concern garnered only 23%. COMMENT: When you decided to go to medical school, you made an extraordinary choice in pursuit of an extraordinary career. I am pretty sure you did not choose a career guaranteed to dominate your entire life.  --- **EFFORTS TO ALLIEVIATE BURNOUT:** *What have you done at work to try to alleviate burnout?* 28% of the doctors said, "Reduced my work hours." COMMENT: **This is another finding that should be keeping CEO's, CMO's and all patients up at night across the USA. **We already know there is a 120,000 physician shortage projected for 2030. If 12% (28% of the 42% who admit to burnout) of physicians also feel they have no choice but to cut back hours ... the shortage just expanded by 14,400 docs.  --- **PHYSICIAN SUICIDE SURVEY:** *Have you ever felt suicidal or attempted suicide?* 13% Yes; I have had thoughts of suicide but have not attempted suicide 1% Yes, I have attempted suicide 81% No 5% Prefer not to answer COMMENT: This is the highest number of admissions to suicidal ideation I have ever seen in a survey by a factor of two. For years a solid and predictable 6 - 7% of doctors will answer "Yes" to the question: "Have you thought about suicide in the last 12 months?" Now this.  --- **WELLNESS PROGRAM:** *Does your workplace offer a program to reduce stress and/or burnout?* 35% Yes 47% No 18% Don't know *How likely are you to participate in this program?* 42% Very unlikely 28% Neither likely nor unlikely 30% Very likely COMMENT: OK, hang on here. 63% of physicians work in an organization where there is either no wellness program or if they do have one ... it appears to be invisible to the doctors.  ---   ## PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT - How are your energy levels? - How satisfied are you with your work-life balance? (0-10) - Does your organization have a wellness program? - Have you cut back your hours? Do you know colleagues who have done so?   Tags: [stop physician burnout](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/stop-physician-burnout) - [Home ](https://www.thehappymd.com) - [Blog ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog) - [About](https://www.thehappymd.com/about-the-happy-md)   - [ Contact ](https://www.thehappymd.com/contact) - |  - [Republish Articles](https://www.thehappymd.com/the-happy-md-content-network-signup-r)   || [Privacy Policy](https://www.thehappymd.com/privacy-policy) | [Terms of Use](https://www.thehappymd.com/terms-of-use) | [Anti-Spam Policy](https://www.thehappymd.com/anti-spam-policy) ||   **© TheHappyMD.com all rights reserved** ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Dike Drummond MD", "url" : "https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/author/dike-drummond-md" }, "dateModified" : "2021-01-24T20:37:54.078Z", "datePublished" : "2021-01-24T20:34:10.000Z", "headline" : "The Medscape 2021 Physician Burnout Survey", "image" : [ "https://www.thehappymd.com/hubfs/medscape-2021-Physician-burnout-and-suicide-study_1.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/medscape-2021-physician-burnout-survey-report-highlights-commentary-dike-drummond-md", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.thehappymd.com/hubfs/Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W.jpg" }, "name" : "The Happy MD" } } ```