Burnout pushing ED doctors to reduce hours and quit specialty

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Almost half of Canadian emergency medicine doctors have cut back their hours and 10% have left the specialty as high rates of burnout take a toll, researchers have found.

Results were analysed from surveys of the same 410 Canadian emergency physicians in April 2020, November 2020, September 2022, and January 2025.

Burnout levels between late 2020 and 2025 remained unchanged despite hopes that pressures would ease over time after the pandemic, researchers at Queen’s University, Ontario reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

By 2025, 65% of respondents scored either high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalisation (emotional detachment from patients), or both.

Women, younger doctors and those who had reduced their hours reported higher levels of burnout.

"Canadian emergency staff have been dealing with record patient attendances, long wait times, bed blocking, and department overcrowding," said the report led by Dr Kerstin de Wit, professor in emergency medicine.

'Health care system is broken'