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From the Journals

Dermatologists Show Lowest Turnover Intent of All Specialists

AMA data show only 19.9% of dermatologists plan to leave their current positions, compared with 40.6% of anesthesiologists.

Conexiant

Dermatologists reported the lowest intention to leave their current positions among practitioners across all medical specialties, with 19.9% indicating plans to depart within 2 years, according to exclusive data from the American Medical Association’s 2024 national physician comparison report.

The findings, based on nearly 18,000 physician responses across 43 states and from more than 100 health systems participating in the AMA Organizational Biopsy®, show an overall improvement in physician retention. Nationally, intent to leave declined from 35.7% in 2023 to 31.9% in 2024 across all specialties.

The report reflects responses to six key performance indicators: job satisfaction, job stress, burnout, intent to leave an organization, feeling valued by an organization, and total work-related hours per week.

“The downward trend suggests that health systems are making meaningful progress in addressing long-standing issues such as physician burnout, work-life balance, and administrative burden,” the report states.

Specialties with the Lowest Turnover Intent

  • Dermatology – 19.9%

  • Infectious diseases – 23.3%

  • Pediatrics – 26.9%

  • Internal medicine – 27.7%

  • Pathology – 28.1%

  • Neurology – 29.1%

  • Hospitalist medicine – 30.1%

  • Family medicine – 30.3%

  • Emergency medicine – 30.6%

  • Obstetrics and gynecology – 30.6%

Specialties With the Highest Turnover Intent

  • Anesthesiology – 40.6%

  • Vascular surgery – 40.5%

  • Radiology – 39.0%

  • General surgery – 38.4%

  • Otolaryngology – 36.6%

  • Pulmonology – 36.4%

  • Cardiology – 34.8%

  • Psychiatry – 33.8%

  • Gastroenterology – 33.6%

  • Ophthalmology – 31.3%

Turnover Intent by Demographics

Among physicians 20 or more years out of training, 36.5% reported intent to leave—down from 40.8% in 2023. Part-time physicians had a higher intent to leave (35.7%) than full-time physicians (29.8%). Male physicians were more likely to report turnover intent (32.7%) than female physicians (29.1%).

“The purpose of the aggregated data is to provide a national summary of organizational well-being and to serve as a comparison for other health care organizations,” wrote the authors of the report, which represents exclusive data not published elsewhere. They concluded, “While the needle is moving in the right direction, sustained effort and deeper structural changes are needed to retain and support the nation’s physicians.”

Source: AMA