Across the board, physician burnout has jumped 11 percentage points from 2018, when 42 percent of physicians said they were burned out. The “Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2023: ‘I Cry and No One Cares'” is based on survey responses from more than 9,100 physicians across 29 specialties, which were collected between June and October 2022. At least one third of respondents in all specialties said they were burned out.
Here’s how each specialty stacked up:
Note: This list includes ties
1. Emergency medicine — 65 percent of physicians reported burnout
2. Internal medicine — 60 percent
3. Pediatrics — 59 percent
4. Obstetrics and gynecology — 58 percent
Infectious diseases — 58 percent
5. Family medicine — 57 percent
6. Neurology — 55 percent
Critical care — 55 percent
Anesthesiology — 55 percent
7. Pulmonary medicine — 54 percent
Radiology — 54 percent
8. Oncology — 52 percent
Gastroenterology — 52 percent
9. General surgery — 51 percent
Diabetes and endocrinology — 51 percent
10. Rheumatology — 50 percent
11. Otolaryngology — 49 percent
Allergy and immunology — 49 percent
Dermatology — 49 percent
12. Ophthalmology — 48 percent
13. Physical medicine and rehabilitation — 47 percent
Psychiatry — 47 percent
Urology — 47 percent
14. Plastic surgery — 46 percent
15. Orthopedics — 45 percent
16. Nephrology — 44 percent
17. Cardiology — 43 percent
18. Pathology — 39 percent
19. Public health and preventive medicine — 37 percent
Click here for more findings from the 2023 report.
See how burnout rates by specialty compare to 2021 responses here.
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