Emergency medicine physicians have the highest rates of burnout among all physician specialties, according to a Medscape's 2022 Physician Burnout and Depression report. More than 13,000 physicians across 29 specialties were surveyed between June 29 and Sept. 26, 2021.
Neurosurgery: Neurosurgery is one of the most difficult medical specialties. Neurosurgeons must have knowledge and skill with the brain, spine, spinal cord, and nervous system while treating patients with brain-related illnesses or injuries.
Family physicians are the most likely to select increased workload/lack of work-life integration (62%) as the largest factor negatively affecting their mental health compared to other medical (56%) and surgical (44%) specialists.
According to Medscape's 2020 Physician Lifestyle and Happiness Report, the specialties with the greatest proportion of happy physicians were rheumatology at number one followed by general surgery, public health & preventive medicine, allergy & immunology, and orthopedics.
Pediatricians earn on average $221,000 and work an average of 47 hours per week, yielding an average hourly wage of $94. It should be noted that pediatricians have the lowest annual salary out of any specialty on our list; however, they also work fewer hours than most specialties.
Apart from the top 5 specialties mentioned above, Interventional Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Vascular Surgery, General Surgery and Med/Peds are among the most difficult domains to become a doctor.
When society generally thinks of doctors, they are thinking of internists. They are often the smartest and most well- rounded physicians due to the breadth of knowledge they (along with family medicine physicians) often carry.
A gynaecologist specialises in treating problems arising in the female reproductive organs and is the first doctor to be approached if you face premenstrual, menstrual or other issues, which are mostly related to hormonal changes.
Of note, allergy and immunology physicians also spend the least amount of time on paperwork and administrative tasks out of any specialty on our list, at just 14.6 hours per week. For perspective, this is a similar amount of time to dermatology, which is known for being one of the best lifestyle specialties.
Anesthesiologists and surgeons earn the highest income among doctors. According to Payscale August 2022 data, anesthesiologists earn an average of $307,740, and surgeons earn an average of $287,500 as of July 2022 data.
The ROAD specialties, standing for radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and dermatology have historically been the best for those optimizing for lifestyle. While that still mostly holds true, there's much more to the story.
Among physicians, 22.1% (95% confidence interval 21.8% to 22.5%) had ever been divorced by the time of survey, compared with 22.9% among dentists, 21.5% among pharmacists, 37.0% among nurses, 31.3% among healthcare executives, 27.7% among lawyers, and 36.6% among other occupations.
“Physicians should be personable, great listeners, and empathetic to the concerns of their patients,” he elaborates. “They should not be condescending or arrogant. They should treat others as they want to be treated.” “Physicians should be personable, great listeners, and empathetic to the concerns of their patients.”
