Nearly all doctors feel burnout, but many are encouraged by potential of AI, survey says
Suriyapong Thongsawang | Moment | Getty Images
Doctors in the U.S. are struggling to contend with burnout, staffing shortages and overwhelming administrative workloads, but many are optimistic that artificial intelligence could help to ease these problems, a new survey found.
More than 90% of physicians report feeling burned out on a “regular basis,” according to the survey, commissioned by Athenahealth, which offers cloud-based health-care tools. The survey found that excessive administrative tasks such as paperwork are the driving force behind this burnout, with 64% of doctors saying they feel overwhelmed by clerical requirements.
More than 60% of respondents said they have considered leaving the medical field, the report said.
Athenahealth released the results of the survey Wednesday.
To keep up with workloads, physicians are spending an average of 15 hours per week working outside their normal hours, in what many in the industry refer to as “pajama time,” the survey said.
Nearly 60% of doctors in the survey said they feel they do not have enough in-person time with their patients, and more than 75% reported feeling overwhelmed by patients’ “excessive communication demands,” such as frequent texting, calling and emailing outside scheduled visits.
Doctors are also noticing the challenges that their employers are facing, the survey found.
Around 78% of physicians said poor staff retention and shortages are affecting their organizations, according to the survey. Additionally, fewer than 40% of doctors feel confident that their employer is “on solid financial footing.”
Despite these obstacles, 83% of doctors in the survey said they believed AI could help. Physicians think the technology could eventually streamline administrative work, improve the accuracy of diagnoses, identify patterns and anomalies in patient data and more, the survey said.
Many doctors said their biggest concern about AI is that it could lead to a loss of human touch in health care, and around 70% said they are concerned about the technology’s use during at least one part of the diagnosis process, the survey said.
Even so, twice as many survey participants said AI would eventually be part of the solution, compared with those who said AI is part of the problem, according to the news release.
The study said AI optimists — survey participants who indicated that AI is part of the solution — also tend to feel more positive about the broader use of technology in health care. Nearly 80% of that group said they think tech helps them manage their patient workload, for instance.
“In order for physicians to fully benefit from technology as a care enhancement tool, they need to experience more advantages and fewer added complexities or burdens,” Dr. Nele Jessel, chief medical officer of Athenahealth, said in the release. “If we get this right, we’ll be using the technology to reduce administrative work and increase efficiencies in ways that allow physicians to refocus on their patients.”
While AI is unlikely to solve health-care problems overnight, the survey found that the technology is giving some doctors hope for the future. Around 37% of the AI optimists believe the field is ultimately heading in the right direction, according to the survey.
In the study, 1,003 doctors were surveyed between Oct. 23 and Nov. 8. The survey was conducted online by market research firm The Harris Poll on behalf of Athenahealth, whose sponsorship of the study was not revealed to the survey participants, the release said. Only 5% of respondents said they use Athenahealth’s technology, the release said.
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Executive Chair and CEO of Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella speaks during the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 30, 2024.
Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana | Reuters
Microsoft plans to pause hiring in part of its consulting business in the U.S., according to an internal memo, as the company continues seeking ways to reel in expenses.
The announced cuts come a week after Microsoft said it would lay off some employees. Those cuts will affect less than 1% of the company’s workforce, according to one person familiar with Microsoft’s plans.
Although Microsoft indicated earlier this month that it plans to continue investing in its artificial intelligence efforts, cost cuts elsewhere could lead to gains for the company’s stock price. Microsoft shares increased 12% in 2024, compared with a 29% boost for the Nasdaq Composite index.
The changes by the U.S. consulting division are meant to align with a policy by the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions organization, which has about 60,000 employees, according to a page on Microsoft’s website. The changes are in place through the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year ending in June.
To reduce costs, Microsoft’s consulting division will hold off on hiring new employees and back-filling roles, consulting executive Derek Danois told employees in the memo. Careful management of costs is of utmost importance, Danois wrote.
The memo also instructs employees to not expense travel for any internal meetings and use remote sessions instead. Additionally, executives will have to authorize trips to customers’ sites to ensure spending is being used on the right customers, Danois wrote.
Additionally, the group will cut its marketing and non-billable external resource spend by 35%, the memo says.
The consulting division has grown more slowly than Microsoft’s productivity software subscriptions and Azure cloud computing businesses. The consulting unit generated $1.9 billion in the September quarter, down about 1% from one year earlier, compared with 33% for Azure.
Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft in early 2023 laid off 10,000 employees and consolidated leases as the company contended with a broader shift in the market and economy. In January 2024, three months after completing the $75.4 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft’s gaming unit shed 1,900 jobs to reduce overlap.
A Microsoft spokesperson did not immediately have a comment.
WATCH: Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion to build out AI this year
Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, NBC News reported on Tuesday.
They will be seated on the platform near cabinet officials and elected leaders, according to a person familiar with the planning of the inauguration who spoke to NBC News.
The prominent attendance of several tech luminaries and billionaires at Trump’s inauguration signals how quickly the technology industry leadership has warmed up to Trump as he takes his second term as president.
During Trump’s first term, Bezos regularly clashed with the president over his ownership of The Washington Post, Amazon’s relationship with the USPS and how much tax the tech company paid. Zuckerberg also traded barbs with Trump, particularly over immigration and misinformation.
But as Trump takes office for a second time, the technology industry has contributed to his inaugural fund and several CEOs have praised Trump and offered well wishes for his administration.
Musk has joined Trump’s administration in a role overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, a new body that is looking to find government waste and cut it. He’s also spent time with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Amazon and Meta have contributed $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. Google also contributed $1 million, CNBC reported last week. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman contributed $1 million, and so has Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to a Axios report that the tech company has not commented on.
Reps for Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos didn’t immediately comment to NBC News.
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