Physicians in residency and fellowship training are reporting improvements to their well-being on several fronts—including in burnout, program satisfaction and job stress—according to a recently released AMA-exclusive report.
Based on survey responses from more than 3,000 resident and fellow physicians across 20 states and 29 organizations, the AMA National Resident Comparison Report is exclusive data to the AMA and the Organizational Biopsy. The report reflects 2025 trends on five key performance indicators—job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, intent to leave and feeling valued—as well as additional analysis of drivers and key findings. Download the national resident companion report (email required to access) for a selection of data from the complete National Comparison Report.
Here are key takeaways from the report, and some examples of the efforts on the part of health systems to tackle the ongoing physician burnout epidemic.
Improvement on markers of resident well-being
Of the residents and fellows surveyed as a part of the 2025 report, 28.6% reported burnout symptoms, a 5.9-percentage point drop from the previous year’s figures, and 34.2% reported having job stress, a number that fell 6 percentage points from 2024. Additionally, 90.1% of the residents reported being satisfied with their programs, representing a 4.4% rise over the prior year.
The resident and fellow physicians were categorized as having overall program satisfaction if they selected “agree” or “strongly agree” in response to the statement: “I have been satisfied with my residency/fellowship program.” Job stress was identified in those who answered “agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement: “I feel a great deal of stress because of my job.” And burnout was defined as having one or more symptoms.
The results continued trends seen for the last three years that residents and fellows have been surveyed as part of the AMA’s Organizational Biopsy. From 2022 to 2025, burnout and job stress rates among residents and fellows have moved on a downward slope, and rates of program satisfaction have risen.
The improvements among residents and fellows mirrored similar trends in the 2025 National Physician Comparison Report, which also showed positive changes among physicians at large. Job satisfaction for physicians remained stable at 77% in 2025, relatively unchanged from 76.5% who reported job satisfaction in 2024. And 42.9% of physicians reported job stress, a number that fell 2.2 percentage points from the previous year. Burnout also fell 1.9% from 2024 figures, to 41.9% of physicians overall.
As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA is reducing physician burnout by removing administrative burdens and providing real-world solutions to help doctors rediscover the Joy in Medicine®.
Important work continues
Residency and fellowship training programs continue to seek out ways to improve the balance between training and well-being for the nation’s newest physicians. Two organizations that are part of the AMA Health System Member Program are tackling it on multiple fronts.
At Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, leaders are investigating and applying psychological theories about what makes physicians feel the most fulfilled professionally. They have found that removing as many of the stumbling blocks to practicing medicine as they can for physicians makes way for challenging—but enriching—work.
“We want to create a workplace that is supportive of well-being as opposed to the place residents have to leave to find it,” said Gregory Guldner, MD, vice president of academic affairs for HCA Healthcare’s graduate medical education (GME) program. He said self-care measures that put the onus on individual residents can’t replace critical structural support.
“Environmental workplace interventions are proving to have a bigger impact than the individual interventions,” Dr. Guldner noted.
At Henry Ford Health in Detroit, Brooke M. Buckley, MD, vice president of medical affairs, said building connections is key when it comes to physicians in training. Only when residents and fellows know that their learning environment is a safe place can they truly flourish.
Research shows that there’s a link between higher performance and feeling a sense of belonging among physicians in training. Building trust may serve patients as much as it serves residents and their training organizations.
“The work to normalize that trust isn't something that just happens,” Dr. Buckley said. “It has to be intentional and fostered.”
The AMA has resources to serve as a collaborator in addressing the factors that cause resident burnout and stress, including the AMA Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program, which empowers health systems to reduce burnout and build well-being so that physicians and their patients can thrive, and the AMA STEPS Forward® toolkit, “Resident and Fellow Well-Being.”
Time will yield more sophisticated results
There were, however, important considerations in assessing data from residents and fellows, who make up a relatively small percentage of physicians as a whole in the country. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education data shows 167,083 active residents and fellows, while the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that there are more than 1 million active physicians in the U.S.
The AMA has offered the resident and fellow well-being survey since 2021, and some of the questions were added in 2023. Organizations also were not required to use all available questions, nor were respondents required to answer them all.
Nancy Nankivil, the AMA’s director of organizational well-being, encouraged more organizations with residency and fellowship training programs to take in part in the AMA’s organizational well-being assessment (PDF) work or email [email protected] for more information.
“Our insights will deepen as participation grows and measurement becomes more consistent over time—bringing greater clarity to the unique needs of physicians in training,” said Heather Farley, MD, MHCDS, the AMA’s vice president of professional satisfaction.
