New Study: Unhappy Physicians Cut Back Workhours

Concerned about the physician shortage? Then keep your physicians happy.

That’s one of the messages from the results of a study just released by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The researchers found that for every 1 point increase in a 7-point scale that measured emotional exhaustion, there was a 40% greater likelihood that the physician would cut back his or her workhours over the next two years. The researchers also found a similar connection between every 1-point decrease in a 5-point scales that measures professional satisfaction.

Researchers from Mayo Clinic and Sirota Survey Intelligence in Purchase, NY, looked a data from Mayo Clinic, including seven years of administrative and payroll records for doctors. The longitudinal study used survey data from 1,856 physicians responding in 2011 and 2,132 physicians responding in 2013. The study included physicians on payroll at the Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota. Results were adjusted for geographic site, age, sex, and specialty.

“There is a societal imperative to provide physicians a better option than choosing between reducing clinical work or burning out,” said Tait Shanafelt, MD, Mayo Clinic physician and lead author of the study. “Physicians reducing their professional effort due to burnout could exacerbate the already substantial U.S. physician workforce shortage as well as impact continuity of care for patients.”

Shanafelt says that the significant concern is regarding primary care disciplines, including family medicine and internal medicine. These disciplines have some of the biggest projections for physician shortages, and they also have high rates of burnout. Future studies need to examine if changes in the practice environment can reduce physician burnout and shortages, the researchers say. The findings appear in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. (Looking for a way to reduce physician stress? See our blog about hospitals that bring dogs for visits with the employees.)