Ophthalmologists are the seventh-happiest physician specialists in 2023, with 62 percent describing themselves as either happy or very happy outside of the workplace, according to a Feb. 24 Medscape report based on a survey of over 9,100 practicing physicians.
Only 3 percent of ophthalmologists report feeling depressed, while 19 percent report feeling burned out and depressed.
About 40 percent of ophthalmologists believe that COVID-19 somewhat impacted their work-life happiness in the last year, while 30 percent felt significantly impacted.
The top contributing factor (67 percent) to ophthalmologist depression is burnout at work. However, over half (55 percent) of ophthalmologists believe their depression does not impact patient interactions.