Is "burnout" burning out?

I don't know how I missed this, but Dr. Tait Shanafelt and his research team published their most recent nationwide survey of physician burnout in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings this past July ("Changes in burnout and satisfaction with work-life integration in physicians and the general US working population between 2011 and 2023").  I've mentioned the burnout issue a few times in the past (see "Don't ask me to to take resilience training!"), and most studies still suggesting that approximately half of the physicians in the U.S. meet at least one of the three criteria for burnout in the Maslach Burnout Inventory (more on this point below).  Dr. Shanafelt has published extensively in this area, and his team has longitudinally measured the prevalence of burnout at 3-year intervals since 2011.  In addition, they conducted an off-cycle survey (about 15 months after the 2020 survey) to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on professional burnout.

Importantly, according to the MBI, which is the most commonly used scale to measure burnout today, an individual meets criteria for burnout when he or she meets threshold criteria in each of the three categories - emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of a loss of personal accomplishment.  The media has erroneously reported in the past that "nearly half of physicians in the U.S. are burned out."  Unfortunately, this statement is technically not correct, and it would be more accurate to state that "nearly half of the physicians in the U.S. meet at least one criteria for burnout."

Using both online and mailed surveys, Dr. Shanafelt and his team surveyed a diverse and representative sample of U.S. physicians.  The response rate was low (less than 10%, or just over 7,600 physicians), but they were able to measure burnout using two of the three metrics included in the MBI - they substituted a previously used survey of personal accomplishment that was more specific to physicians.  They found that burnout in US physicians peaked during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with the 2021 survey.  However, relative to 2021 and 2014 (the previous high water mark), burnout at the end of 2023 had decreased and was similar to levels reported in the 2017 survey.  Overall, 45% of physicians reported at least 1 symptom of burnout, compared to 62.8% in the 2021 survey.  When compared physicians to the general U.S. workforce, physicians remained at higher levels of burnout.

Dr. Shanafelt and his team also reported updated survey results of burnout in U.S. residents and fellows (physicians who have graduated from medical school and are training in a particular specialty).  Those survey results were published in the journal, Academic Medicine (see "Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Integration Among U.S. Residents and Fellows and the General U.S. Working Population Between 2012 and 2023") in December 2025.  Again, burnout among U.S. trainees was lower in 2023 compared to results found in a survey conducted in 2012. Despite this improvement, trainees remain at higher risk for burnout than workers in other fields.

If these results hold up to further scrutiny and follow-up studies, then that is an encouraging development.  Burnout is a major issue that needs to be addressed, and many health care organizations have invested heavily in programs that have tried to address burnout in the entire health care workforce, not just physicians.  However, two results are important to acknowledge.  First, close to half of all physicians still report at least one symptom of burnout, and that is still too high of a percentage.  Second, burnout continues to be higher amongst physicians compared to the general workforce.  We have to do better.

So, back to my question.  Is "burnout" burning out?  Probably not, but perhaps we have reached (and hopefully passed) the peak - and that is progress.  As Winston Churchill once said, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."