One in five physicians ready to reduce clinical work hours

CHICAGO — The burden and bureaucracy of modern medicine inflict a toll on U.S. physicians and appear to be major factors influencing physicians’ intentions to reduce clinical work hours or leave the profession, according to new research by experts at the American Medical Association (AMA), Mayo Clinic and Stanford University. The research study calls for a comprehensive approach by national policymakers and health care delivery institutions to address the challenge.

Published in today’s new issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the research shows roughly one in five physicians intend to reduce clinical work hours in the next year. Meanwhile, roughly one in 50 physicians intend to leave medicine for a different career in the next two years.

The research sheds light on a troubling correlation between the career plans of U.S. physicians and the growing problem of burnout, technology dissatisfaction and administrative fatigue among physicians. Physicians who were burned out, dissatisfied with work-life integration, and dissatisfied with electronic health records (EHRs) were more likely to intend to reduce clinical work in the next 12 months. Burnout is the largest factor influencing physicians who intend to leave medicine in the next two years.