Suggesting “meaningful progress” addressing burnout, job stress, and other factors, fewer physicians are expressing intent to leave their current health care organizations, American Medical Association data reveal.
In 2023, 35.7% of physicians surveyed by AMA indicated they had a moderate interest in leaving their current job within the next two years or that they would like to or definitely would leave in that time frame. Survey responses to that same performance indicator descended to 31.9% in 2024.
“The downward trend suggests that health systems are making meaningful progress in addressing long-standing issues such as physician burnout, work-life balance and administrative burden,” AMA researchers wrote.
The annual survey, part of AMA’s Organizational Biopsy, gauged intent to leave alongside five other metrics: job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, feeling valued by an organization, and total hours spent per week on work-related activities. It found that physician-reported job satisfaction rose from 72.1% in 2023 to 76.5% in 2024.
Job stress, while still significant, continued its downward trend from affecting 45.1% of survey respondents in 2024, compared with 50.7% in 2023 and 55.6% in 2022.
There was a similar decline in physicians who reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout – 43.2% in 2024 versus 48.2% in 2023 and 53% in 2022.
A subset of physician specialties indicated the lowest levels of intent to leave. Those 10 specialties were:
- Infectious diseases: 23.3%;
- Internal medicine: 27.7%;
- Hospitalist medicine: 30.1%;
- Emergency medicine: 30.6%; and
- Obstetrics and gynecology: 30.6%.
Intent to leave was slightly higher among male physicians, with 32.7% reporting planning to leave, versus 29.1% of female physicians. Among physicians who have been out of training 20 or more years, intent to leave was 36.5%, lower than 2023’s findings of 40.8%. And more part-time physicians reported an intention to leave their current position, 35.7%, compared with 29.8% of full-time physicians.
The 10 specialties with the highest reported intent-to-leave rates were:
- Gastroenterology: 33.6%; and
To stay in their current organization, respondents shared the following resources and supports they needed:
- Higher compensation: 57.9%;
- Enhanced workflow efficiency: 46.2%;
- Consistent staffing: 43.2%;
- Less documentation and after-hours work: 42.6%; and
- Fewer electronic health records hassles: 42.4%.
The needle is moving in the right direction, AMA wrote, but “sustained effort and deeper structural changes are needed to retain and support the nation’s physicians.”
TMA’s Wellness First webpage compiles an array of resources to support physicians, including self-assessments and a link to confidential counseling services.
Jessica Ridge
Reporter, Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1395