Nearly half of U.S. family medicine physicians reported burnout, which is linked to higher rates of leaving or switching practices, and may compromise physician workforce stability, according to a research letter published March 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The cross-sectional analysis, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, used American Board of Family Medicine surveys from 2016 to 2020 and linked the data to Medicare claims to track whether physicians left or changed practices, and examined the association between burnout and turnover.
Of the 19,929 family medicine physicians who completed the burnout portion of the surveys, 8,676, or 43.5%, reported burnout, defined as feeling burned out from work or becoming more callous toward people at least once per week.
Overall, 8.4% of physicians changed practices or stopped practicing. Physicians reporting burnout were nearly 1.5 times more likely to leave or change practices than those who did not report burnout.
The study’s authors noted several limitations, including use of surveys preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, an inability to observe physicians who stopped seeing Medicare patients but continued practicing and the study’s noncausal design.
Burnout and observed turnover rates were similar to prior estimates, the authors wrote.
“These findings suggest that physician burnout warrants sustained attention, not only because of its adverse relationship with professional well-being and patient safety but also because it compromises physician workforce stability.”
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