Physician assistants reported high levels of satisfaction with their career choice (86.7%), but they are seeing a slight increase in burnout symptoms across all specialties.
The finding is from the latest specialty report from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, released July 29. Nearly 150,000 PAs provided responses for at least part of the report, which reflect 2023 data.
Here is PA burnout, by specialty, according to the report.
Note: PAs rated their level of burnout based on validated single-item measure. The percentages below reflect the percentage of PAs in each specialty reporting at least one symptom of burnout. Percentages reflect the distribution within the specialty.
Emergency medicine: 42.2%
Gastroenterology: 38.5%
Critical care medicine: 38.5%
Family medicine/general practice: 37.2%
Hospital medicine: 37%
Oncology: 36.7%
Primary care: 36.6%
Internal medicine-general practice: 36.3%
Psychiatry: 35.2%
Neurosurgery: 34.6%
Geriatrics: 34.5%
Neurology: 33.8%
Urology: 33.2%
Obstetrics and gynecology: 32.3%
Cardiothoracic and vascular surgery: 32%
Pain medicine: 31.7%
Cardiology: 31.4%
Pediatrics-general: 31.3%
Orthopedic surgery: 29.2%
Otolaryngology: 29%
General surgery: 28.3%
Plastic surgery: 27.7%
Occupational medicine: 27.1%
Physical medicine/rehabilitation: 26.8%
Dermatology: 26.1%