Hassle Factor, Too Stressful Are Prime Motivators for Leaving Medicine

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By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com

via HealthDay

THURSDAY, May 21, 2026 -- For physicians who have left clinical practice, hassle factor and too stressful are prime motivations for departure, according to a study published online May 7 in The Permanente Journal.

Sea Chen, M.D., Ph.D., from the American Medical Association in Chicago, and colleagues examined the characteristics and motivations for early exit from the clinical physician workforce in a sample of clinically inactive physicians. A total of 971 respondents completed a survey between May and June 2024 and were included in the analysis.

The researchers found that most of the participants (63.9 percent) identified as women and 11.0 percent had never practiced after graduate medical education. Prime motivations for departure included hassle factor and too stressful (44.7 and 44.5 percent, respectively) among physicians who left practice. Female physicians were more likely than male physicians to have exited due to needing to care for family members (7.9 versus 0.6 percent) or children (21.3 versus 4.2 percent). Physicians who left clinical practice had a mean age of 48.1 years, which was nine years younger than in a similar cohort in 2008.

"The women in our study left clinical practice earlier than men, and they left due to pressures like caring for young children or other family members more often than men," Chen said in a statement. "Addressing these issues -- through better child care access, flexible work policies, and equitable treatment -- could help retain more women in the physician workforce."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

Source: HealthDay

Posted : 2026-05-22 09:54

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