While new initiatives and growing awareness have contributed to a measurable drop in physician burnout rates, the problem is far from solved. Women physicians still report high levels of exhaustion, emotional strain and work-life imbalance—challenges that have been intensified by the demands of contemporary medical practice.
In 2024, 43.2% of physicians reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout, down from 48.2% in 2023. But women physicians were still more likely to have burnout symptoms—at 47.2%, compared with 38.9% of men, according to an exclusive AMA survey.
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®.
Some of the biggest contributors to burnout for women physicians are “work inefficiencies and frustrations, lack of feeling valued and respected, lack of opportunities to recharge, and time pressure,” said Diane Shannon, MD, MPH, a physician coach in Boston. She is a co-author of the AMA STEPS Forward® “Real PTO for Physicians” toolkit.
“There are also places where there are just not enough physicians and support staff to help, so their workload has increased,” said Dr. Shannon. “Then along with that is a productivity pressure with more and more physicians being employed.”
Health systems have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to build on recent progress by creating more supportive environments, implementing targeted well-being strategies and addressing the unique stressors women face in medicine.
In an interview with the AMA, Dr. Shannon shared how health systems and other health care organizations can help address burnout among women physicians by targeting pain points.
Reduce EHR inefficiencies
While some might think the fix for the fact that women physicians tend to spend more time in the EHR is to make them more efficient in using the system, that ignores the deeper drivers of that data,” said Dr. Shannon. “Underneath that disparity is the fact that women physicians often get more messages from patients and staff than their male colleagues.”
In fact, “there’s research that shows that patients have a lower threshold for reaching out to their female physician. They also judge their female physician on how fast she responds to inbox messages. But they don’t judge their male physicians on that,” she said. “So, there’s a difference in expectations based on gender.”
Here are examples from organizations that are part of the AMA Health System Member Program—which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine—that show commitment to reducing administrative burdens physicians are facing.
Geisinger strategically deploys AI to let physicians focus on care
Augmented intelligence (AI)—often called artificial intelligence—has emerged as a transformative technological force in health care, offering promising solutions to alleviate the growing burden on physicians while enhancing patient care. By harnessing the power of health care AI, physicians and other health professionals at Geisinger can streamline processes, optimize workflows and ultimately reclaim valuable hours in the day.
HCA Healthcare takes a systemic approach to improving efficiency
When it comes to physician well-being, leaders at the nation’s largest health system say they’ve learned that efforts need to focus on the larger picture, shifting away from simply supporting individuals and toward changing the organization itself for the better. HCA Healthcare undertakes a systematic approach to finding and then addressing hindrance job demands—the "pebbles in the shoe" that contribute to physician frustration and burnout. Examples of “hindrance” demands might include broken equipment or EHR inefficiencies.
Northwell Health embedded clinical pharmacists
It can be challenging in a large neurology practice that treats patients with complex conditions to find ways to improve both care and practice workflows. A neurology practice within Northwell Health has found a way: integrating a clinical pharmacist. When clinical pharmacists are embedded into a practice to help manage the patient volume, they can take on tasks that would otherwise stretch the availability of neurologists.
From AI implementation to EHR adoption and usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors.
Recognize the work physicians are doing
Health systems and organizations need to “recognize the valuable yet uncompensated work that all physicians are doing, but especially the ‘invisible’ work that women physicians are more likely to volunteer for, such as chairing the well-being committee. These tasks take time but generally are not compensated or lead to career advancement,” Dr. Shannon said.
“Organizations also need to recognize the value of the extra time that women physicians spend with patients,” she added.
These examples from health care organizations that are part of the AMA Health System Member Program show commitment to helping physicians feel valued.
Lehigh Valley Health Network shows appreciation and promotes agency
Health systems must foster a culture of recognition and appreciation. While physician-appreciation events are beneficial, smaller, daily acknowledgments from leadership can have an even greater impact. For example, receiving an email or a verbal thank you for a job well done can shift a physician’s morale. At Lehigh Valley Health Network, it starts with the day-to-day personal interaction where a team leader says thank you to their colleagues.
Sanford Health empowers doctors to make a change
At Sanford Health, they take the saying “culture eats strategy for breakfast” seriously. Leaders at the integrated rural health system knew that bringing a strategic plan to life would be an uphill battle if they didn’t invest in a people-focused culture to drive it. That’s why culture comes first at Sanford Health, and helps physicians feel valued.
Sutter Health celebrates successes and offers recognition
Based on comments about the need to feel valued and for leaders to show more gratitude, Sutter Health shared with leaders its best practices. Those best practices included several ways of celebrating successes and recognizing employees via a smartphone app, handwritten notes, callouts at huddles and meetings, and intown halls.
Support use of PTO
“Anything that helps physicians have some of that real time to recharge and come back without an onslaught is key,” said Dr. Shannon. “Or come back and have a half day to catch up so that taking a vacation isn’t painful. True recharge time is critical for long-term well-being and career sustainability.”
Here are examples from AMA Health System Member Program organizations that show commitment to reducing time spent working on vacation.
Baptist Health ensures physicians come back to an empty inbox
As part of its efforts to reduce the burden on physicians to manage their inboxes while they’re on paid time off, Baptist Health Medical Group has created a pilot program to tackle EHR use on vacation. As part of the program, a team—which consists of a physician, nurse practitioner or nonphysician provider—helps to offload some of the messages received by physicians who are out of the office.
Hattiesburg Clinic helps physicians feel supported
At Hattiesburg Clinic in Mississippi, as part of exploring the link between feeling valued and reducing burnout, leaders are looking for system-wide strategies to show physicians how vital they are to the group’s success. A key part of helping physicians feel supported is allowing them the ability to unwind and unplug with clinical coverage—particularly EHR inbox coverage—while they are out of the office without burdening their colleagues.
Marshfield Clinic Health System changed the culture to encourage PTO
At Marshfield Clinic Health System, leaders are looking to change the culture to create positive changes in physician well-being. An organizational biopsy showed that Marshfield Clinic physicians are better at using four weeks of vacation time compared to national statistics, and administrative tasks for physicians are less onerous than those seen nationally, but burnout was high. As a result, Marshfield has looked to support individual physicians. The clinic formed a peer group to provide resources to physicians and advocate for system-level changes intended to promote physician well-being among them on the PTO front.
Foster relationships through leadership
“Leadership is huge and there’s a lot of data showing that when physicians feel they are valued it correlates with a lower risk of burnout,” said Dr. Shannon. “Recognizing what makes for an excellent leader who supports the well-being of physicians and other health professionals and shows appreciation of their contributions is important.”
That’s why leadership is a pillar of the AMA’s 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.
Learn more from these AMA Health System Member Program organizations on creating a culture of well-being, starting with their leaders.
Confluence Health boosts physician leadership, one piece at a time
Great physician leaders need to be adept on multiple fronts, said Galen Sorom, MD, an internist and physician leader at Confluence Health in Wenatchee, Washington. Some leaders, for example, already are strong on the use of quality metrics. Others excel as communicators while other physician leaders understand their organizations inside and out. To help, Confluence Health takes a multitiered approach to help physician leaders create a thriving team.
Northwest Permanente works on building relationships
As a leader, Stella Dantas, MD, ob-gyn at Northwest Permanente, is committed to creating psychological safety. This serves as the foundation on which to build a strong culture. Naturally, establishing that psychological safety starts at the top with strong, diverse leadership. To do this, Dr. Dantas suggests that effective leaders often have to be all things to all people. That means it’s a constant balancing act—they need to be driven yet flexible, analytical yet open-minded, tough yet amiable.
Ochsner Health develops leaders with the right training
Before the pandemic, AMA member Nigel Girgrah, MD, PhD, chief wellness officer at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, and other members of his team learned about a leadership program in North Carolina that led to a rise in engagement scores—a measure of interaction and interest in an organization—from the 50th percentile to the 95th at that health system.
AMA STEPS Forward open-access resources offer innovative strategies that allow physicians and their staff to thrive in the new health care environment. These resources can help you prevent burnout, create the organizational foundation for joy in medicine and improve practice efficiency.
