Emergency Physicians` Attrition Rate Less than Two Percent Lower Than overall Average for Physicians
Washington, DC— Despite work correlated with high levels of occupational stress and burnout, emergency physicians drop out of clinical practice at a rate well below that of physicians overall, and report high levels of career satisfaction. Findings are reported online today in Annals of Emergency Medicine (“Attrition from Emergency Medicine Clinical Practice in the United States”).
“We were surprised to learn that emergency physicians stick with their clinical practice more than other physicians,” said lead author Adit Ginde, MD, MPH of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine in Aurora. “The Emergency Department is an often chaotic and unpredictable environment, which we thought would lead to higher rates of burnout. But the annual dropout rate for emergency physicians was only 1.7 percent, lower than 2 to 3 percent for physicians overall. Despite the high job stress, most emergency physicians report that emergency medicine meets or exceeds their career expectations.”
Researchers examined the American Medical Association’s 2008 Physician Masterfile records of all 30,864 emergency medicine-trained or emergency medicine board-certified emergency physicians in the United States. Attrition rates were highest during the first five years after graduation from medical school and after 40 years after graduation. Between five and 40 years after graduation, the annual attrition rate was less than 1 percent. High career satisfaction among emergency physicians is attributed to patient variety, proficient use of skills, job excitement, teamwork and opportunities for teaching and leadership.
“Emergency physicians generally are here for the long haul, which bodes well for the care of the growing population of emergency patients,” said Dr. Ginde. “There is still a critical shortage of emergency medicine-trained physicians, especially in rural areas, and we need to continue to identify solutions to improve access to emergency physicians. On the positive side, the growing supply of new emergency medicine residency graduates is higher than the number who leave the specialty every year.”
Annals of Emergency Medicine is the peer-reviewed scientific journal for the American College of Emergency Physicians, a national medical society. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies. For more information visit www.acep.org.
