Doctors report low morale; many consider leaving medicine

American College of Physician Executives, October 30, 2006

Doctors say they are burned out, according to new findings of the 2006 American College of Physician Executives’ Physician Morale Survey. This is a sampling of what the survey found:

• Nearly 60 percent of the 1,205 physicians who participated in the survey have considered leaving the practice of medicine because they're discouraged over the state of U.S. healthcare today.
  
• Almost 70 percent said they actually knew of at least one doctor who stopped practicing medicine due to low morale.
  
• The top five factors contributing to low morale were identified by the survey respondents as: low reimbursement, loss of autonomy, bureaucratic red tape, patient overload and loss of respect.
  
• How is the low morale affecting physicians? The doctors in the survey listed fatigue as the number one problem, coming in at 77 percent. Emotional burnout, 66 percent, was a close second. Both marital or family discord and depression were experienced by about 32 percent of the respondents and 4 percent have had suicidal thoughts.
  

The survey results are being reported in the November/December issue of The Physician Executive Journal of Medical Management. To receive a copy of the ACPE Physician Morale Survey results, e-mail Bill Steiger, vice president of communications, at bsteiger@acpe.org.