Running on empty: the true state of doctor burnout in Australia in 2026

Despite being one of healthcare’s leading challenges, doctor burnout rates are difficult to quantify, says psychologist and researcher with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Dr Shaun Prentice.

“Depending on how you define and measure burnout, you're going to get quite different estimates,” he explains.

The last profession-wide Australian study was conducted in 2013, but the RACGP’s 2025 Health of the Nation report shows GP burnout rates have hovered around 70% since 2022.

In Queensland Health’s recent Medical Workforce Wellbeing Survey, 49% of doctors met the threshold for burnout risk.

Burnout in healthcare professionals is more prevalent than in other sectors, and a leading driver of workforce attrition, according to the Australian Government’s 2025 Workforce Intelligence Report.

What causes doctor burnout?

Burnout occurs when the demands of a job consistently exceed the resources available to meet them, Dr Prentice explains.

A doctor’s work is like a seesaw — daily fulfillment on one side and difficult challenges on the other. Over time, the balance can tip towards burnout, stay stable or help doctors thrive.

“It’s a very complex problem with multi-level contributors,” he says.

These include:

• Individual factors — eg perfectionism, difficulty managing uncertainty;
• Psychosocial context — eg relationship strain, financial pressure; and
• Organisational and system-level factors — eg workloads, staffing levels, workplace culture.

In severe cases, “burnout can morph into something that looks more like depression,” Dr Prentice says. “I’m seeing doctors who are quite numb from their work.”

Dr Jennifer Schafer, a general practitioner and Medical Director of Doctors' Health Queensland, notes medicine typically attracts altruistic people who will do more if asked.

“We want doctors to be compassionate and empathetic, but sometimes you can care too much. And if you can't disconnect at the end of the day, that can be a contributor.” 

Many GPs find the day-to-day realities of practice don't reflect what drew them to medicine, she adds.

“Instead of spending quality time with patients doing what you believe you were born to do, you're doing admin, filling in insurance forms, you're on the phone to the hospital. It's that stuff that grinds people down.”

Dr Emma Hodge, Clinical Lead for Queensland Health’s Medical Wellbeing project, says medical workforce increases haven’t necessarily kept up with increasing patient numbers and complexity. This means doctors may need to work longer hours, which can lead to fatigue and burnout.

The challenges are often greater for junior doctors, she says.

"The need to study for exams and prepare to get into specialist training is a further risk factor for burnout." 

Senior doctors are also at risk: “Prolonged exposure to long hours along with the physical and emotional demands of medicine can compound and increase the risk of both burnout and compassion fatigue.”

Can burnout compromise patient safety? 

Evidence linking burnout directly to medical errors is mixed, but doctors experiencing burnout feel they’re providing lower quality care — and patients notice it too, Dr Prentice says, citing a study that found the likelihood of patients changing GPs increased with GP burnout.

Risk may be greater as burnout progresses and starts to impact cognitive functioning, he adds.

Dr Schafer agrees: “Doctors who are exhausted, burnt out, work too many shifts — their judgment is impaired, their cognition is impaired, their efficiency is impaired. And the problem is you don't always know you're impaired. So this is a huge risk.”

Dr Hodge emphasises that Australia has safeguards — such as mandatory break times between shifts — to protect doctors and patients.

“Across the system, we try to make sure doctors aren't working excessive hours, which we saw decades ago when there were fewer fatigue management measures and industrial protections.”

Under Australian Work Health and Safety laws, employers are also legally required to manage psychosocial workplace hazards.

Why the system must change 

To reduce doctor burnout in Australia, we must address the systems that contribute to it, Dr Schafer says.

“If you have a culture where you treat your workforce like widgets, and expect them to behave like widgets, it's not going to work. We need a culture that recognises the wellness of your workforce is a critical factor to the success and safety of your healthcare system.”

Dr Prentice says we need to tackle the looming "tsunami" of workforce shortages, or risk driving increasing numbers of doctors out of the profession.

Funding structures also need an overhaul, he says, noting fee-for-service models don’t align with most doctors’ values.

“If the financial systems are rewarding the number of people they're seeing, rather than the quality of care they can provide, that will continue to erode their sense of meaning and purpose in their jobs.”

We also need cultural reform to dismantle stigma around help-seeking and the emphasis on perfectionism and self-sacrifice in medicine, he says.

Dr Hodge says we need more vocational training positions to address specialty training bottlenecks and meet future workforce needs.

Positive developments are underway, she adds, with health systems exploring different models of care — such as hospital-in-the-home programs, GP upskilling and technology to ease administrative burdens.

What can doctors do?

Dr Prentice says burnout is not solely a systemic issue and treating it as such can be “very disempowering.” 

The most important thing doctors dealing with burnout can do is connect with people outside of medicine, he says.

Daily work with sick patients and the prevalence of doctor burnout can skew your perception of “normal,” he explains.

“If you pop outside that medical bubble, you get a very different perspective on life and go, ‘actually, things shouldn’t be like that’.”

Doctors experiencing severe burnout need time off, and a holiday alone is insufficient, he stresses. Take that time to explore what triggered it, including factors like people-pleasing tendencies or perfectionism — preferably with support from a mental health professional, he advises.

“Burnout is such an insidious thing, so it's very hard to have that insight for yourself.”

He also encourages doctors to identify their work’s most satisfying aspects, noting international and Australian research has shown doctors who spend time doing tasks they find most meaningful are less likely to experience burnout. That might involve reducing hours, sub-specialising, or exploring alternative career paths, he says.

Dr Schafer agrees individual actions are important.

“The things that will drive you down that rollercoaster of despair will always be there to a degree,” she says.

The “secret sauce” is to recognise when you start down that slippery slope, pause, and consider how to get back on track — which might involve self-care or adjusting your workload, she says.

Key takeaways

• Doctor burnout is widespread in Australia, although it is difficult to measure accurately. 
• Burnout is driven by a combination of personal, psychosocial and health system factors, including excessive workloads, workforce shortages and workplace culture. 
• Junior doctors face additional pressures from exams and specialist training, while prolonged exposure to long hours and emotional demands increases burnout risk in senior clinicians. 
• Burnout can impair judgement, reduce doctors' sense of purpose and affect patients' perceptions of care, although evidence linking burnout directly to medical errors is mixed. 
• Experts say system-wide change is needed to reduce burnout rates, including workforce investment, funding reform, and cultural change. 
• Individual strategies like recognising burnout early, seeking support, maintaining connections outside medicine and reorganising work to focus on its most meaningful aspects can also help.

Support services and resources

Doctors' Health Line: 1800 006 888 | Free 24/7 anonymous support for doctors, medical students and concerned colleagues or family members

Drs4Drs: 1300 374 377 | A free, confidential network of advisory and referral services available across Australia

Medical Board | Contact details for support services in each state and territory

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 | Free 24/7 mental health support online or by phone

Lifeline: 13 11 14 | Free 24/7 suicide prevention and crisis support

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 | Free 24/7 support for people at risk of or affected by suicide

Black Dog Institute | Caring under pressure: addressing burnout in health professionals

Black Dog Institute | Experiencing burnout? Here’s what to do about it