About half of infectious disease physicians reported being burned out last year, according to Medscape's Infectious Disease Physicians Lifestyle & Burnout Report published Feb. 18.
Medscape surveyed 13,069 physicians in 29 specialties from June 29 to Sept. 26, 2021. About 1 percent of the respondents were infectious disease physicians.
Five survey findings:
1. Eighty-four percent of the infectious disease physicians who responded said they were happy outside of work before the pandemic. This figure fell to 41 percent during the pandemic.
2. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they were burned out, the fourth-highest percentage of all specialities surveyed.
3. The three most common contributing factors to burnout that infectious disease physicians cited were too many bureaucratic tasks (60 percent); spending too many hours at work (45 percent) and a lack of respect from leaders or colleagues (39 percent).
4. Female infectious disease physicians were more likely to report burnout (68 percent) than their male counterparts (39 percent).
5. Sixty percent of respondents said they would take a salary cut to have a better work-life balance.