SurveyAmerican journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation2025

Burnout in Canadian Physiatrists: A National Cross-sectional Survey.

Robert Simpson, Eva Cohen, Alex Kiss and 9 others

PMID 40444938

WHAT IT FOUND

42% of Canadian physiatrists met burnout criteria, 43% reported moderate-severe moral injury, and 40% showed emotion regulation difficulties indicative of depression.

Female sex and White race were linked to higher burnout risk, while witnessing compassion between colleagues was protective.

Key findings

0142% of respondents met the threshold for burnout, with female sex and White race identified as significant predictors in logistic regression.

0243% of respondents reported moderate to severe moral injury, which was significantly higher in females and correlated with difficulties in emotion regulation.

03Higher levels of witnessing compassion between others were associated with lower odds of burnout, suggesting workplace culture plays a protective role.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they found

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What it does not show

The study used convenience sampling with a 24% response rate, so findings may not generalize to all Canadian physiatrists. The sample was skewed toward urban, academic, and female practitioners, potentially oversampling those at higher risk for burnout. As a cross-sectional survey, it cannot establish causality between predictors and outcomes. Nonresponders were not characterized, leaving unknown biases in the data. The study did not account for systemic healthcare policy factors or institutional support structures known to drive burnout.

Declared interests

Funded by an Associated Medical Services Fellowship in Compassion and AI.

The easy way to misread this

Do not assume these prevalence rates apply to your entire clinic or hospital; the sample was self-selected, skewed toward urban academic settings, and had a low response rate. Also, these are associations, not causes: witnessing compassion did not necessarily prevent burnout, only that the two were linked in this snapshot.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →


The study

Participants
118 Canadian physiatrists
Certainty of evidence
Low

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    Cite

    Robert Simpson, Eva Cohen, Alex Kiss, et al. Burnout in Canadian Physiatrists: A National Cross-sectional Survey. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation. 2025.

    Read the original — we summarise, we never replace the paper.