Burnout causes emergency physicians to leave Canadian health care

Burnout is pushing emergency physicians to leave the specialty, or to reduce clinical hours, adding to the body of research pointing to a crisis in health care in Canada, according to a new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251863.

"The prevailing theme was that the health care system is broken," writes Dr. Kerstin de Wit, emergency physician and thrombosis physician at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and a professor, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, with coauthors. "We found repeated references to the emergency department making up for system inadequacies, with fewer resources and little support, and the expectation that the situation will worsen. For many, the future of emergency medicine was hopeless, with no possibility of recovery."

The study, conducted by researchers in the Network of Canadian Emergency Researchers, consisted of a 2025 survey with 410 emergency medicine physician respondents in all provinces and territories in Canada except Yukon and Nunavut. Major themes were a broken health care system, a challenging workplace, physician distress, and a desire to leave emergency medicine. Of the total respondents, 10% had left the specialty, 48% had reduced clinical hours, and 20% had taken time off. Women and younger physicians reported higher rates of burnout.

These findings are concerning and indicate that patient care in Canada is threatened, as is the well-being of emergency physicians.

"Burnout levels remain high and should no longer be considered a pandemic phenomenon," the authors write. "Physician burnout is a patient safety risk, is associated with low-quality care, and runs against the Quintuple Aim of a sustainable health care system."

Potential sources of burnout include a dysfunctional health system at both the government and hospital levels, unrealistic patient expectations about the role of emergency physicians, lack of clinical support, patient volumes, and the inability to meet patient needs beyond the scope of emergency practice.

These data add to findings from recent studies. The Canadian Medical Association's National Physician Health Survey showed similar rates of burnout. In June 2026, the Canadian Institute for Health Information issued a report indicating wait times for admitted patients have increased yearly for emergency department care, and patients often leave without being seen by a physician.

"Emergency physician loss is a crisis for the Canadian health care system, and our results suggest attrition to the emergency workforce, which in turn exacerbates burnout among those who stay."

To address this crisis, governments and institutions need to prioritize addressing gaps in patient care, invest in geriatric emergency care, expand non-health-care staffing to address social and other needs of patients, and other changes. As well, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians has set out an action plan for change in its EM:POWER initiative.

Commenting on the increasing burden on physicians, Dr. Catherine Varner, an emergency physician and deputy editor at CMAJ, writes in a related editorial https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.261030 , "their collective distress and quiet attrition signals a serious threat: Canada's 50-year investment in developing a highly effective fleet of physicians with specialized or additional training in emergency medicine, who provide 24-hour coverage to most emergency departments across the country, could be squandered."

She urges immediate action on this critical issue.

"As Canada's population ages - along with rising health complexity, climate-related disasters, and threats of international conflict - all levels of government should urgently prioritize preventing attrition in emergency medicine," writes Dr. Varner. "However, the profession cannot wait for complex systems-level solutions to be realized; immediate actions must be taken to protect emergency department personnel now."

The federal government could move from unconditional Canada Health Transfers to holding provincial and territorial governments accountable for emergency department wait times and access to care and require these governments to report data.

"Without thoughtful and intentional action by provincial and national leaders, access to 24-hour emergency care in Canada is at risk, and preventable tragedies will continue to occur in our waiting rooms," Dr. Varner concludes.