A new, multi‑center survey led by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) probes why women physicians report higher rates of occupational distress than their male colleagues, pointing to modifiable workplace factors rather than intrinsic differences. The study, published on March 18 in JAMA Network Open, responds to persistent concerns about the gender gap in physician well‑being by identifying the workplace factors that mediate this gap.
Researchers administered a standardized survey between October 2019 and July 2021 across 15 U.S. academic medical centers participating in the Healthcare Professional Wellbeing Academic Consortium, which unites U.S. academic medical centers to advance, and benchmark validated measures of healthcare professional wellbeing and empowers members to implement interventions to improve occupational well-being for healthcare professionals. A total of 19,088 physicians completed the survey; 8,197 women and 8,534 men were included in the main gender comparisons.
The researchers compared burnout and professional fulfillment between women and men doctors, then tested whether five dimensions of workplace experience mediate those differences. The factors were leadership support, alignment between a doctor’s values and the values of their organizations, control over their schedule, how helpful the electronic health record (EHR) is, and self-valuation (self-care and self-compassion). Models adjusted for weekly work hours and used standard cutoffs to report how many doctors met criteria for burnout or for being professionally fulfilled.
Key findings showed substantial gender gaps: 42% of women met criteria for burnout versus 33% of men, and 24% of women met criteria for professional fulfillment compared with 46% of men. Across four of the workplace dimensions – leadership support, values alignment, control over schedule, and self-valuation – women reported significantly lower scores than men.
The researchers used mediation models to evaluate the relationship between five workplace dimensions and the gender difference in burnout. They found that the gender difference in burnout was no longer significant when they added these workplace experiences into the model. Among the five workplace factors that were included in the model, self-valuation (self-care and self-compassion) was the strongest mediator of the higher burnout rate for women physicians. The same five workplace experience factors did not fully mediate the lower professional fulfillment scores for women physicians, suggesting that other factors influence this difference.
“We found that higher burnout among women doctors is not intrinsic to their gender, but rather related to modifiable workplace and life pressures,” said Miriam Stewart, MD, Chief Well-being Officer and an attending physician with the Justin Michael Ingerman Center for Palliative Care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. “Lower self-care and self-compassion often stem from underlying differences in the experiences of women physicians, such as heavier caregiving duties at home, different communication expectations from patients leading to more patient messages and longer visits, and harsher feedback or consequences at work, all of which influence the time available for self-care and the likelihood of self-compassion in women physicians.”
The researchers recommend that efforts to boost self-valuation focus on removing systemic barriers to self-care and self-compassion rather than placing the burden on individuals. Rather than focusing only on interventions targeting women physicians, the researchers recommend that organizations adopt work models that better support all physicians in meeting caregiving responsibilities at home and providing excellent patient care.
“The literature suggests that women physicians achieve better patient outcomes, which points to the value of the increased time they spend communicating with patients. All physicians should be resourced with the time and team-based support to achieve these outcomes without putting them at risk for burnout,” Stewart said. “Investing in physician well-being safeguards patient safety, improves quality of care, and reduces the costs and gaps in care that are associated with physician turnover. It is a win-win for patients, physicians, and the healthcare system.”
Stewart et al. “Mediating factors and well-being differences by gender among academic physicians.” JAMA Netw Open. Online March 18, 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.2279.
A new, multi‑center survey led by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) probes why women physicians report higher rates of occupational distress than their male colleagues, pointing to modifiable workplace factors rather than intrinsic differences. The study, published on March 18 in JAMA Network Open, responds to persistent concerns about the gender gap in physician well‑being by identifying the workplace factors that mediate this gap.
Researchers administered a standardized survey between October 2019 and July 2021 across 15 U.S. academic medical centers participating in the Healthcare Professional Wellbeing Academic Consortium, which unites U.S. academic medical centers to advance, and benchmark validated measures of healthcare professional wellbeing and empowers members to implement interventions to improve occupational well-being for healthcare professionals. A total of 19,088 physicians completed the survey; 8,197 women and 8,534 men were included in the main gender comparisons.
The researchers compared burnout and professional fulfillment between women and men doctors, then tested whether five dimensions of workplace experience mediate those differences. The factors were leadership support, alignment between a doctor’s values and the values of their organizations, control over their schedule, how helpful the electronic health record (EHR) is, and self-valuation (self-care and self-compassion). Models adjusted for weekly work hours and used standard cutoffs to report how many doctors met criteria for burnout or for being professionally fulfilled.
Key findings showed substantial gender gaps: 42% of women met criteria for burnout versus 33% of men, and 24% of women met criteria for professional fulfillment compared with 46% of men. Across four of the workplace dimensions – leadership support, values alignment, control over schedule, and self-valuation – women reported significantly lower scores than men.
The researchers used mediation models to evaluate the relationship between five workplace dimensions and the gender difference in burnout. They found that the gender difference in burnout was no longer significant when they added these workplace experiences into the model. Among the five workplace factors that were included in the model, self-valuation (self-care and self-compassion) was the strongest mediator of the higher burnout rate for women physicians. The same five workplace experience factors did not fully mediate the lower professional fulfillment scores for women physicians, suggesting that other factors influence this difference.
“We found that higher burnout among women doctors is not intrinsic to their gender, but rather related to modifiable workplace and life pressures,” said Miriam Stewart, MD, Chief Well-being Officer and an attending physician with the Justin Michael Ingerman Center for Palliative Care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. “Lower self-care and self-compassion often stem from underlying differences in the experiences of women physicians, such as heavier caregiving duties at home, different communication expectations from patients leading to more patient messages and longer visits, and harsher feedback or consequences at work, all of which influence the time available for self-care and the likelihood of self-compassion in women physicians.”
The researchers recommend that efforts to boost self-valuation focus on removing systemic barriers to self-care and self-compassion rather than placing the burden on individuals. Rather than focusing only on interventions targeting women physicians, the researchers recommend that organizations adopt work models that better support all physicians in meeting caregiving responsibilities at home and providing excellent patient care.
“The literature suggests that women physicians achieve better patient outcomes, which points to the value of the increased time they spend communicating with patients. All physicians should be resourced with the time and team-based support to achieve these outcomes without putting them at risk for burnout,” Stewart said. “Investing in physician well-being safeguards patient safety, improves quality of care, and reduces the costs and gaps in care that are associated with physician turnover. It is a win-win for patients, physicians, and the healthcare system.”
Stewart et al. “Mediating factors and well-being differences by gender among academic physicians.” JAMA Netw Open. Online March 18, 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.2279.
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