Careers
US doctors more prone to burnout than general working population
BMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e6159 (Published 12 September 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e6159
Doctors in the United States are more prone to burnout than other employees, indicates research in the Archives of Internal Medicine.1 A national survey of almost 7300 doctors in 2011 showed that almost half (46%) of the respondents had at least one symptom on the Maslach burnout inventory. Doctors working at the frontline of care—family medicine, general internal medicine, and emergency medicine—had the highest rates of burnout. Compared with a sample of 3442 working US adults, doctors were more likely to have symptoms of burnout (38% versus 28%) and were almost twice as likely to be dissatisfied with their work-life balance (40% versus 23%).