Burned out physicians are more likely to leave their job, and replacing them could be costing your institution millions of dollars each year, researchers reported October 13 at the 2017 American Conference on Physician Health.

Burnout is widespread among physicians in the United States, with numerous surveys showing rates above 50%.

To learn more about, a longitudinal study of physicians at Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health was conducted between 2013 to 2015.

Using the unique identifier numbers, the researchers determined that 21% of burned out physicians had left Stanford by 2015 compared with just 10% of their non-burned-out peers.

After adjusting for other factors, such as depression or work hours, they found that the odds of leaving the institution were 2.68-fold higher among burned out vs non-burned-out physicians.

The cost to recruit a new physician to Stanford runs between $268,000 and $957,000, according to data from the university's chief financial officer (CFO). Thus, replacing burned out physicians costs the institution between $15,544,000 and $55,506,000 in a 2-year period.

Source: Medscape