Physicians spend an average of 15.5 hours per week on paperwork and administration, with an average of nine hours spent on electronic health record documentation, according to the Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report" for 2023.
Here are the specialties ranked by how much of their time each week is spent on administrative tasks:
|
Specialty |
Hours worked a week |
Hours spent on paperwork and administration |
Percentage of hours taken up by administrative work |
|
Physical medicine and rehabilitation |
49.9 |
19 |
38% |
|
Family medicine |
48 |
17 |
35% |
|
Internal medicine |
51 |
18 |
35% |
|
Psychiatry |
46.6 |
16 |
34% |
|
Oncology |
52.6 |
18 |
34% |
|
Neurology |
53 |
18 |
34% |
|
Nephrology |
54.9 |
18 |
33% |
|
Diabetes and endocrinology |
48.9 |
16 |
33% |
|
Pediatrics |
47 |
15 |
32% |
|
Critical care |
57.7 |
18 |
31% |
|
Cardiology |
56.2 |
16 |
28% |
|
OB-GYN |
53.9 |
15 |
28% |
|
Otolaryngology |
52.4 |
14 |
27% |
|
Orthopedics |
52.9 |
14 |
26% |
|
General surgery |
57.4 |
15 |
26% |
|
Urology |
54.7 |
14 |
26% |
|
Dermatology |
44.2 |
11 |
25% |
|
Gastroenterology |
52.3 |
13 |
25% |
|
Radiology |
49.6 |
11 |
22% |
|
Ophthalmology |
45.3 |
10 |
22% |
|
Plastic surgery |
52.2 |
11 |
21% |
|
Anesthesiology |
51.8 |
9 |
17% |