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Doctors do not appear to be bouncing back from the pandemic's early days—their happiness at and away from work continues to be significantly lower than before the pandemic. Physicians reported similar levels of unhappiness last year too.

Nearly half of physicians said they were somewhat or very unhappy at work, compared with 75% before the pandemic, the new Medscape Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2023 shows.

"I am not surprised that we're less happy now," said Amaryllis Sánchez, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician and a certified physician coach.

"I speak to physicians around the country and I hear that their workplaces are understaffed, they're overworked and they don't feel safe. Although we're in a different phase of the pandemic, doctors feel that the ground beneath them is still shaky," said Sánchez, the author of Recapturing Joy in Medicine.

Most doctors are seeing more patients than they can handle and are expected to do that consistently. "When you no longer have the capacity to give of yourself, that becomes a nearly impossible task," said Sánchez. Head over to Medscape to read the full story.