A new report indicates that while physician burnout is improving across some areas, certain specialties still face overwhelming levels of burnout. The latest study by the American Medical Association shows an overall decline with 41.9% of physicians reporting atleast one burnout symptom in 2025, down from 43.2% in 2024 and 48.2% in 2023. While 41.9% is still a high number and the decline is not necessarily by an incredible magnitude, these figures indicate substantial progress, especially when compared to 2023.
Interestingly, the specialty with the highest burnout still remains emergency medicine, with nearly 49.8% of physicians reporting atleast one symptom. The second highest was urological surgery (49.5%). In contrast, infectious disease (23.3%), nephrology (29.3%) and dermatology (31.5%) were among the professions with the lowest levels of reported burnout by physicians.
What is physician burnout? The AMA defines it as “a long‑term stress reaction which can include emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (i.e. lack of empathy for or negative attitudes toward patients), [or a] feeling of decreased personal achievement.” For the last few decades, levels of burnout have reached all-time highs due to a variety of reasons, including significant administrative tasks, paperwork, increasing patient volumes and changing expectations of the patient and physician relationship.
A 2023 study in the JAMA Network Open Journal found that burnout has significant impacts on care delivery; in fact, physicians experiencing burnout are more likely to make medical errors, have lower patient satisfaction scores and have higher levels of absenteeism. Additionally, they also have poorer work-life balance, leading to even more trailing work and a viscous cycle which is self-devolving. Indeed, health systems and leaders have engaged in conversations at the national level to better understand how to address this ongoing crisis, given that poorer patient outcomes is simply not an option. Another study in 2025 found that U.S. primary care physicians would need to work nearly 27 hours a day to complete all their recommended activities and assigned tasks; in a world where primary care physicians are already at a major shortage, this would prove to be extremely onerous for the system.
Indeed, this raises likely the most crucial point about the wider burnout epidemic: it is adding fuel to an already raging fire with regard to a growing physician shortage and increased levels of physician attrition. The existing generation of physicians is also nearing retirement age; per an AAMC report in 2022, nearly half of practicing physicians are already above the age of 55, meaning the workforce is rapidly approaching a massive cliff that will seriously shock the physician labor market. This is occurring parallel to a growing aged population, increasing numbers of patients with higher rates of chronic disease, and overall prolonged wait times throughout practices across the country. Fortunately, technology has significant promise in alleviating some of these burdens, especially in the realms of documentation and process automation. Though sometimes challenging to adopt rapidly, systems must embrace the latest opportunities that are available as a result of innovation. Finally, physician wellness must be prioritized in the decades to come; without doing so, there will be no healthcare workforce or system remaining.
