Pediatricians are twice as likely to be happy outside the office than they are at work, according to Medscape’s 2020 Lifestyle, Happiness, and Burnout Report.
About 29% of pediatricians reported being happy at work, with dermatologists taking the top spot at 41%. Pediatricians did much better when it came to finding happiness outside the office, with 57% reporting that they were very happy when away from work, according to the Medscape report.
The biggest contributing factors to burnout in pediatricians were an overabundance of bureaucratic tasks (59%), insufficient compensation/reimbursement (37%), and spending too many hours at work (34%).
Pediatricians most commonly dealt with burnout by talking with friends/family (54%), exercising (47%), and sleeping (41%). Just over half of pediatricians reported taking 3-4 weeks of vacation, compared with 44% of all physicians; 32% took less than 3 weeks’ vacation.
About 8% of pediatricians reported that they’d contemplated suicide, but 0% reported that they’d attempted it; 85% said that they’d never thought about it. Just under one-quarter of pediatricians said that were currently seeking or planning to seek professional help for depression and/or burnout; 55% said they were not seeking help and had never made use of it in the past.
The Medscape survey was conducted from June 25 to Sept. 19, 2019, and involved 15,181 physicians.