We’ve weathered the worst of the pandemic—although COVID is still very much with us—we can speak about a recovery in our economy, in our face-to-face relationships and even in the healthcare industry. Yet, medical practitioners are still struggling with overwork, short staffing and the familiar pre-pandemic issues that drive burnout, like the demands of electronic record-keeping, productivity targets, insurance hassles and more.
But there are some encouraging signs. For example, in a 2021 survey, a substantial 81 percent of nurses said they were satisfied with their careers and 66 percent said they planned to remain in their current positions, which is an increase from a statistic found in a 2019 survey, 64 percent. The pandemic intervened between those findings, and despite the horrific stressors of that period, nurses came out of it more, rather than less, likely to stay in the profession and in their jobs.
According to a 2022 Medscape study, 18 percent of roughly 500 US physicians surveyed said they intended to retire within the next year. But nearly half, 43 percent, of this “headed-out” group also said they wanted to stay involved in medicine in some capacity.
It’s a picture of commitment to medicine in spite of everything.