Reported burnout among internal medicine physicians decreased over the past year based on data from Medscape’s annual survey of burnout and depression among physicians in the United States.
Approximately 80% of male internists and 85% of female internists said that their feelings of burnout and/or depression were driven by their jobs all or most of the time. The job-related stress and burnout come home with them — 76% of respondents overall said that burnout had negatively affected their personal relationships.
Too many bureaucratic tasks such as charting and paperwork were by far the top contributor to burnout, reported by 70% of respondents, with insufficient compensation and lack of respect from employers, colleagues, and staff as relatively distant second and third contributors (40% and 37%, respectively).
In addition, nearly half of the physicians said that their burnout was severe enough that they might leave medicine.
To help manage burnout, more internists reported positive coping strategies such as exercise (51%), talking with friends and family (47%), spending time alone (41%), and sleeping (40%), compared to less healthy strategies such as eating junk food, drinking alcohol, and using nicotine or cannabis products.
When asked what workplace measures would help with burnout, no one strategy rose to the top, but the top three were increased compensation (49%), additional support staff (48%), and more flexible work schedules (45%).
Notably, 62% of internists reported depression they defined as colloquial (feeling down or sad) and 27% described their depression as clinical. However, only 9% said they had sought professional help for depression, and 15% said they had sought help for burnout.
Staying in Practice Despite Burnout
The percentage of physicians across specialties who report depression and burnout worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Noel Deep, MD, an internal medicine physician in group practice in Antigo, Wisconsin, in an interview.
Since the pandemic, newer stressors have replaced the pandemic-related stressors, and increasing bureaucratic burdens and paperwork continue to cause more physicians to report burnout, he said.
“If not assessed and addressed, this will lead to attrition in the physician workforce leading to increased burden on other physicians and impact patient access to healthcare,” he added.
The survey findings reflect Dr. Deep’s observations. “When talking to physicians across specialties, I have heard universally from many physicians about their experiences and ongoing struggles with potential burnout and mood-related issues,” he said. “While many of them feel that they are getting to the point of burnout, most of them also stoically continue to provide care to patients because they feel an obligation to them,” he said.
This feeling of obligation to patients is why less than one third of the physicians who consider retiring or leaving medicine because of burnout actually do, he said.
As for measures to reduce burnout, “I personally feel that increasing the compensation will not lead to decreased burnout,” Dr. Deep said. Although more money may provide temporary satisfaction, it will not yield long-term improvement in burnout, he said. “Based on personal experiences and my interactions with physicians, providing them more autonomy and control over their practices ... would contribute to decreasing the burnout,” Dr. Deep emphasized.