New study links physician burnout to higher rates of medical staff turnover

Family physicians who report feeling burned out are nearly 1.5 times more likely to change practices or stop practicing medicine entirely compared to their peers who don't report burnout, a study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found. Physician burnout can include emotional exhaustion, detachment from patients and colleagues, and feeling that work is no longer meaningful.

The findings, published March 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine, also highlight the consequences for patients: people who lose their family physician may be more likely to visit the emergency room, spend more on health care and be less satisfied with their care than those who keep their doctors.

"To our knowledge, this is the first national-level study examining the association between physician burnout and turnover," said Dr. Amelia Bond, associate professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, who co-led the study.

To quantify burnout, Dr. Bond and her colleagues turned to the 2016-2020 American Board of Family Medicine surveys, which family physicians must complete to obtain and maintain board certification. As part of the survey, physicians are asked whether they feel burned out or callous.

The researchers then determined whether physicians changed practices or stopped practicing altogether in the subsequent year, based on billing patterns in de-identified Medicare data.

Of the nearly 20,000 physicians in the study, 43.5% reported burnout. Doctors under the age of 55 were more likely to report burnout than older doctors, and women were more likely to report burnout than men.

The research suggests that workplace stress may reduce physician retention. Among physicians who reported burnout, 4.8% changed practices versus 3.4% of physicians who did not report burnout; 5.4% of physicians with burnout stopped practicing entirely compared to 3.7% of physicians without burnout.

These findings highlight the urgent need to address work conditions and professional satisfaction for both the stability of the physician workforce and the well-being of patients."

Dr. Dhruv Khullar, associate professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-lead on the study

Physician burnout and turnover have clinical, organizational and economic implications. "The issue definitely warrants more attention," Dr. Bond said.

Further investigation could identify practices, systems and policy factors that may reduce rates of physician burnout and turnover. While this study found a correlation, additional work will be needed to establish a causal link between burnout and turnover.