Where Burnout Rates Are Trending Among Healthcare Professions
By Jay Asser
To improve employee retention, it remains vital that hospital and health system CEOs focus on reducing burnout.
Fortunately for organizations, fewer healthcare workers reported feeling burned out in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the 2023-2024 State of Well-Being Report.
The Well-Being Index, developed by Mayo Clinic, gathered 79,022 assessments across various healthcare occupations in 2023 to track how groups are distressed.
When respondents were asked if they felt burned out from their work in the past month, 50% answered yes in 2023, a decline from 54% in 2022.
Pharmacy professionals experienced the most burnout among professions at 62%, but that figure was also lower than in 2022 (66%).
Meanwhile, burnout for nurses and physicians was at 52% and 51%, respectively, in 2023, compared to 60% and 53% in 2022. The drop for both group is likely indicative of organizations enhancing and offering more well-being initiatives, particularly on the nursing side. More nurses in 2023 (51%) said they strongly agreed or agreed with the statement “my work schedule leaves me enough time for my personal/family life” than in 2022 (47%), while fewer reported emotional problems in 2023 (60%) than in 2022 (64%).
The only group that saw the burnout trend reversed was medical students, with 58% reporting burnout in 2023 versus 51% in 2022.
Even though burnout rates are showing improvement, CEOs continue to place an emphasis on the well-being of their employees to combat a projected workforce shortage of over 100,000 critical care workers nationwide by 2028.
Jay Asser is the CEO editor for HealthLeaders.