Physician career satisfaction: How do hospitalists compare?

When it comes to career satisfaction for physicians, how do hospitalists compare to other specialties on factors like burnout, feeling valued and plans to leave their job?

A new report from the AMA found that hospitalists posted slightly better scores in some categories and slightly worse in others. And perhaps not surprisingly, hospitalists posted the worst numbers in the category of hours worked per week.

For medicine overall, physicians reported improved scores on most measures since 2024, with job stress dropping 2.2% and burnout decreasing 1.3%.The number of physicians who felt valued by their organization jumped 1.7% since 2024, and their intent to leave their current practice dropped 0.8%.

Here’s a look at the data from the AMA’s latest Organization Biopsy report.

Job satisfaction: “Are you satisfied with your current job?”

All physicians: 77%.

Hospitalists: 76.3%.

• Satisfaction rates were lowest for emergency physicians (71.3%) and highest for ob/gyns (80.8%) and pediatricians (80.0%).
• The numbers were slightly higher for male physicians (78.6%) than female physicians (77.1%).
• Scores were higher for part-time physicians (78.1%) than full-timers (76.0%).
• Among all physicians, satisfaction rates were lowest for physicians 11-15 years out of training (73.9%) and highest for physicians with 20-plus years of experience (79.6%).
• By race/ethnicity, the numbers were lowest for white physicians (78.0%) and Middle East/North African physicians (77.9%). Satisfaction was highest for Asian doctors (82.0%), Latin/Hispanic physicians (81.6%) and Black doctors (80.3%).

Job-related stress: “I feel a great deal of stress because of my job”

All physicians: 42.9%.

Hospitalists: 40.5%.

• Hospitalists reported the lowest level of stress.
• Emergency medicine reported the highest levels of job-related stress (52.5%); pediatricians reported the lowest (40.9%).
• Female physicians reported higher levels of stress (46.9%) than male physicians (38.6%).
• Stress was lower for part-time physicians (39.2%) than full-timers (44.4%).
• Stress levels were higher for physicians six to 10 years out training (47.9%) and lowest for physicians with 20-plus years of experience (38.3%).

Burnout: “Experiencing at least one symptom of burnout.”

All physicians: 41.9%

Hospitalists: 38.6%

• Hospitalists reported the lowest level of burnout. The next lowest specialty was pediatrics (39.7%) and internal medicine/primary care (40.9%).
• The highest rate of burnout was reported by emergency medicine (49.8%) and ob/gyn (45.7%).
• Burnout was higher among female physicians (46.0%) than male physicians (37.0%).
• Among all physicians five years out of training, 40.8% reported burnout. That number climbed into the high 40% range until physicians had 20-plus years of experience, when burnout levels dropped to 35.8%.

Time: “Average hours on work per week.”

All physicians: 58.4 hours.

Hospitalists: 65.7 hours.

• Hospitalists reported the highest number of hours worked per week.
• The number was lowest for emergency medicine physicians (51.0 hours).
• The reported number of work hours was similar for male physicians (58.1 hours) and female physicians (57.7 hours).

Intent to leave: “Likely to leave current practice within next two years.”

All physicians: 31.1%

Hospitalists: 29.3%

• Intent to leave their current practice was highest among internists/PCPs (31.9%) and emergency physicians (31.4%). It was lowest for pediatricians (26.0%).
• White physicians (30.8%) were more likely to report intending to leave their practice. The number was lowest among black physicians (24.4%).

Feeling valued: “I feel valued by my organization.”

All physicians: 56.2%.

Hospitalists: 53.2%.

• Feelings of valued were lowest among internists/PCPs (52.1%) and emergency physicians (52.7%). The number was highest for family medicine and ob/gyn (both 56.9%).
• Physicians six to 10 years out of training were most likely to report feeling least valued (51.2%). Among physicians with 20-plus years of experience, the number was 59.4%.
• Feelings of value were higher for male physicians (59.6%) than females (53.3%).

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