A study published May 7 in The Permanente Journal revealed that the reasons behind why physicians leave practice early are shifting.
The survey evaluated responses from a sample of clinically inactive physicians from the American Medical Association’s Physician Professional Data between May and June 2024. Questions assessed demographics, education, clinical training and reasons for leaving clinical practice. It included responses from 971 participants.
1. Although women comprised just over half (51.1%) of the original eligible physician population studied, they accounted for 63.9% of the survey’s final respondent sample of clinically inactive physicians — a substantial overrepresentation that suggests women are exiting the workforce at a disproportionate rate.
2. Among physicians who had already left clinical practice, women had a median career length of 9 years compared to 12 years for men
3. Women are more than five times more likely to leave due to childcare responsibilities. More than 21% of women cited needing to care for young children as a reason for their departure, compared to just 4.2% of men. The study authors note that childcare stress is well-documented as a driver of both intent to leave practice and intent to reduce clinical hours among women physicians specifically.
4. Women are more than 13 times more likely to leave to care for other family members. Almost 8% of women reported leaving to care for other family members, versus only 0.6% of men.
5. Nearly 14% of women reported leaving due to personal health concerns versus 3.8% of men Women were also more than twice as likely to report leaving because the work was too stressful — 31.7% compared with 12.9% for men. The authors point to fewer leadership opportunities, lower pay, and higher rates of mistreatment and discrimination as likely contributors to women’s greater stress burden.
6. Among the 107 physicians in the study who completed residency but never practiced clinical medicine, 57.9% were women. The authors flag this as an especially urgent and understudied problem, noting this group will have an “outsized effect on the magnitude of the workforce shortage.”
7. Women comprised 55.4% of US medical school matriculants in 2023–2024 and nearly half (48.2%) of active residents. The authors warn that as women’s share of the physician workforce grows, their earlier departure will create a compounding effect on overall attrition — and that interventions specifically targeting the drivers of women’s early exit could have an amplified positive impact on workforce sustainability.
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