About 26 percent of public health and preventive medicine physicians are burnt out, the lowest level of any specialty, according to Medscape's 2022 Public Health and Preventive Medicine Physician Lifestyle and Burnout Report.
Medscape surveyed 13,069 U.S. physicians across 29 specialties from June through September. Fewer than 1 percent of respondents were PH/PM physicians. The report was published Feb. 18.
Three findings:
1. About 85 percent of PH/PM physicians said they were "very" or "somewhat" happy outside of work pre-pandemic. When asked about how happy they are outside of work currently, about 72 percent said "very" or "somewhat" happy. To compare, about 59 percent of physicians overall said the same about their current happiness.
2. PH/PM physicians were burned out the least (26 percent) compared with other specialties. About 60 percent of emergency medicine physicians reported feeling burned out, the highest level of any specialty.
3. Half of surveyed PH/PM physicians said they would take a pay cut for a better work-life balance. About 55 percent of physicians overall said the same.
To view the full report, click here.