New Zealand consistently scores high in global studies of quality of life, but young doctors in the country may not be feeling it.
A survey of 10 high-income countries finds primary care physicians are more burned out in New Zealand than in any other country.
Nearly 60% of New Zealand primary care doctors under the age of 55 report being burned out — along with 40% of those 55 and older.
For the United States, those figures are 50% for younger doctors and 39% for older ones.
The Commonwealth Fund International says its survey was split into two age groups because 55 is the average age of physicians in the United States.
In every country, younger doctors are more stressed than their older colleagues.
One of the widest age-related gaps is In New Zealand, where nearly three-quarters of younger doctors say their work is “very or extremely stressful” and a similar number report experiencing emotional distress since the start of the pandemic.
Radio New Zealand followed up with the head of the country’s professional organization of primary care physicians.
Doctor Bryan Betty calls the study a “wakeup call,” and part of a broader picture that includes an immediate need for more international doctors and nurses in New Zealand— as well as increased medical education in the country.
