By Mariah Taylor

Researchers discovered only 57.5 percent of physicians said they would choose to become a physician again, compared to 72.2 percent of physicians in 2020.

Mayo Clinic, Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Medicine collaborated to survey 2,440 physicians between Dec. 9, 2021, and Jan. 24, 2022. The study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, compared scores for burnout, professional fulfillment and work life integration between 2020 and 2021.

Professional fulfillment scores — defined as a sense of satisfaction or meaning that comes from work — for physicians dropped by nearly 18 percent in only a year.

Here are five more survey findings:

1. Professional fulfillment scores dropped from 40 percent in 2020 to 22.4 percent in 2021.

2. Emotional exhaustion scores increased 38.6 percent, and depersonalization scores increased 60.7 percent.

3. Of physicians, 62.8 percent manifested at least one trait of burnout, compared to 38.2 percent in 2020.

4. Satisfaction with work-life integration declined from 46.1 percent in 2020 to 30.2 percent in 2021.

5. Depression scores increased by 6.1 percent.