Social isolation contributes to physician feelings of burnout, workplace satisfaction, suicidal ideation

Physicians may feel socially isolated even amid a never-ending stream of patients and tasks to make them healthier.

A national study found women doctors and physicians in the early and middle parts of their careers have greater risks of social isolation, even as U.S. health care is as busy as ever.

“Physicians have the same innate need for connection as all other human beings,” the authors wrote. “Efforts by both organizations and physicians to prioritize and nurture personal and professional relationships and social connections may enhance well-being and physicians’ ability to care for others.”

The study, “Social Isolation and Burnout, Professional Fulfillment, and Suicidal Ideation Among U.S. Physicians,” was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The authors surveyed 3,103 physicians from November 2020 to March 2021.

Doctors are lonely, too

In recent years, social isolation has emerged as a factor affecting health of Americans — so much that the U.S. surgeon general cited an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” in a 2023 advisory. Social engagement declined from 2003 to 2020, and things went from bad to worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, workplace burnout is rampant among physicians and other clinicians. Doctors work long hours and work continues even during vacation. But “social isolation among physicians and how it compares to levels in the general population is not well understood,” the authors wrote.

Who has it worst

Among the findings, physicians who were single and had no children had the highest social isolation T-scores. Women had higher degrees of social isolation than men, and physicians aged 35 to 44 years had the highest degrees for age range.

For medical specialties, physicians working in pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, radiology, pediatric subspecialties, general surgery, anesthesiology and emergency medicine had the worst scores for social isolation. General internal medicine and internal medicine specialties had better scores, while family medicine doctors had greater levels of social interaction. The specialty with the best score for social isolation was ophthalmology.

Veterans’ hospital physicians had the worst scores for social isolation, followed by active military, then academic and other settings. Private practice physicians had the best scores for social isolation, according to the study results.

Physicians with worse scores for social isolation also had greater rates of burnout and suicidal ideation.

How to help

The authors suggested supporting “general recommendations to combat isolation and promote belonging,” such as strengthening connections in personal, family, community and workplace relationships. Those values could be emphasized in leadership priorities, and normalizing discussion of social isolation and loneliness could help.

They also cited at least three studies that indicated relatively low-cost methods could improve workplace connections among physicians and other clinicians.

• Colleagues Meeting to Promote and Sustain Satisfaction, or COMPASS groups, showed small-group meetings among doctors improved burnout, depressive symptoms and job satisfaction.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Minnesota Medical Center created a peer support program based on the U.S. Army’s Battle Buddy system that pairs similarly situated soldiers and officers to assist each other in and out of combat. The program “is highly scalable, has no cost, and requires very few resources apart from endorsement on the part of unit and department leaders,” a July 2020 study said.
• Using surgical caps labeled with names and positions of the wearer improved the sense of teamwork and connection when participants were referred to by their name and role, according to another study.