New study links physician burnout to higher medical staff turnover rates

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

The findings, published March 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine, also highlight the implications for patients: People who lose their family doctor 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 study to examine the association between 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, doctors are asked if they feel burned out or uncomfortable.

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

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

Research suggests that workplace stress can 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 altogether compared to 3.7% of physicians without burnout.

These findings highlight the urgent need to address working conditions and job 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-leader of the study

Physician burnout and turnover have clinical, organizational, and financial implications. “The issue certainly warrants more attention,” Dr. Bond said.

Further research could identify practices, systems, and policy factors that may reduce burnout and job turnover rates. While this study found an association, additional work will be needed to establish a causal relationship between burnout and turnover.