The entire healthcare team is burnt out—including this critical role in hospitals and clinics
Key Takeaways
It’s not only doctors struggling with burnout and depression—all healthcare workers face systemic challenges with consequences that ripple across the healthcare field.
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These burdens not only hinder professional satisfaction but also spill over into personal relationships and mental well-being. As burnout and depression drive some healthcare workers to consider leaving medicine altogether, the question becomes: What can our leaders in medicine do to stem this tide?
Medscape just released their annual survey series, including a survey of 1,502 physician assistants and associates about the scope of these negative mental health challenges.[] Here’s what we learned.
Just part of the job? Maybe it shouldn't be
Depression can often go hand-in-hand with job-related burnout, and the two can impact life both at work and at home. Texas Health explains, “The signs of depression at work can look similar to general depressive symptoms and there is some overlap between how you feel at work versus how you feel outside of work. Work depression often affects your level of function both at work and at home.”[]
PA burnout decreased only slightly in 2023 compared to 2022, dropping from 37% to 36%, according to the Medscape report. Meanwhile, PA depression was reported at the same rate as the previous year: 29%.
How did we get here?
According to the Mayo Clinic, risk factors for job-related burnout include heavy workloads, struggling with work-life balance, working in a helping profession (such as healthcare), feelings of having little control over your work.[]
For 78% of PAs surveyed, all or most of their burnout and depression was attributed to their job, rather than their personal life. Respondents noted increased patient loads and administrative tasks as a major source of stress and burnout.
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The top factor contributing to PA burnout is bureaucratic tasks, the report shows. Faced with excessive administrative work, PAs have less time to spend on actual patient interactions. PAs also cited insufficient compensation; lack of respect from administrators, employees, colleagues, or staff; and lack of respect from patients.
Long working hours and heavy patient loads also contribute to PA burnout, the report states. Respondents also indicated that they receive less pay and less support compared to their MD colleagues, but they are expected to handle the same complexity and quantity of patients. Unfortunately, 51% of respondents said that their employer does not seem to recognize staff burnout.
How depression shows up at work
PA depression rates, unchanged from last year, appear to be closely linked to their work. The survey reports both clinical and colloquial PA depression remaining at the same levels – 28% and 61%, respectively – compared to the previous two years. For 70% of the PAs surveyed, their job burnout was a contributing factor to their depression.
Work-related burnout and depression can overflow into home life and daily tasks. PAs surveyed reported tension in their relationships with family and friends, with 67% stating that their job-related burnout undercuts their personal relationships.
Respondents shared that they were negatively impacted socially, that they felt exhausted and didn’t have time for their hobbies, and that they distanced themselves from friends and family. They may also feel lonely, knowing that others don’t understand their challenges.
When asked to rank the severity of their job-related burnout and depression, 14% of PAs responded that they may leave the field of medicine altogether. A report from an American Academy of PAs (AAPA) survey states that PAs moving onto other jobs are most motivated by less toxic work environments, higher pay, and better management.[]
Easing the burden
Incentives, bonuses, reviews, and discussions with supervising physicians may help alleviate job burnout for PAs. Only 30% of respondents said that talking with colleagues would help with their burnout. Even fewer believed that sharing with a colleague about their depression would help.
More than half of PAs surveyed (52%) responded that increased compensation would help alleviate their burnout. Other top possible solutions were lighter patient loads (41%) and more manageable work schedules (39%). Two factors ranked at 38%: greater respect from administrators, colleagues and staff; as well as more support staff.
Employers can take steps to reduce the rates of both burnout and depression in the workplace. “Institutions must acknowledge systemic issues such as high caseloads, long work hours (including covering longer shifts than expected) and lack of mentorship,” says the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).[]
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