Of the 949,658 actively practicing physicians in the U.S., 63 percent have been burned out for 13 months or more — an 11 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels.
Beyond burnout, the healthcare workforce lost 333,942 providers in 2021. The ongoing shortage of health professionals has put more pressure on physicians who remain in practice.
There is an average of 344 people per physician of all specialties, according to a report published Dec. 31, 2021, by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the most recent data available.
Here is a comparison of each specialty's caseload and the levels of burnout among providers, ranked from highest caseload to lowest using data from Medscape's "Physician Burnout and Depression Report."
|
Specialty* |
No. of active physicians |
Patients per physician |
Rate reporting burnout |
|
Pulmonary medicine |
4,867 |
67,099 |
54% |
|
Allergy and immunology |
5,009 |
65,197 |
49% |
|
Rheumatology |
6,420 |
60,867 |
50% |
|
Plastic surgery |
7,228 |
45,181 |
46% |
|
Diabetes and endocrinology |
8,246 |
39,603 |
51% |
|
Otolaryngology |
9,616 |
33,961 |
49% |
|
Infectious diseases |
9,193 |
32,944 |
58% |
|
Urology |
10,081 |
32,395 |
47% |
|
Nephrology |
11,554 |
28,265 |
44% |
|
Pathology |
12,180 |
26,812 |
39% |
|
Dermatology |
12,767 |
25,579 |
49% |
|
Neurology |
5,748 |
23,574 |
55% |
|
Critical care |
14,159 |
23,064 |
55% |
|
Gastroenterology |
15,678 |
20,930 |
52% |
|
Oncology |
16,673 |
19,587 |
52% |
|
Orthopedics |
18,469 |
17,682 |
45% |
|
Ophthalmology |
18,948 |
17,235 |
48% |
|
Cardiology |
22,262 |
14,669 |
43% |
|
General surgery |
24,881 |
13,125 |
51% |
|
Radiology |
27,197 |
12,008 |
54% |
|
Psychiatry |
38,424 |
8,499 |
47% |
|
Anesthesiology |
42,264 |
7,727 |
55% |
|
Obstetrics and gynecology |
42,496 |
7,685 |
58% |
|
Emergency medicine |
46,857 |
6,969 |
65% |
|
Family medicine |
118,641 |
2,753 |
57% |
|
Internal medicine |
120,342 |
2,741 |
60% |
|
Pediatrics |
60,305 |
1,720 |
59% |
*Only specialities with available burnout rate data are included.