Selecting a medical specialty isn’t just about what you find interesting in medical school or how well you scored on Step 2 — it’s a massively important choice that will impact your entire life. For many medical students, I find a low potential for future burnout and good work/life balance is a compelling reason to make these decisions.
I developed this list of the least stressful medical specialties with several questions in mind for med school students preparing for The Match:
- What is the schedule like? Can you count on a standard 9-5? What are the on-call expectations?
- Are most patients you’ll see dealing with emergency issues or ongoing care for less critical conditions? (For instance, in oncology or emergency medicine, emergent and/or life-threatening cases are standard.)
- What are the typical burnout rates for physicians in this specialty?
- What is the personal life of doctors in the specialty? Should you expect to work long hours with varied work schedules, or can you take frequent vacations and get plenty of family time? Will you make high pay but get so little time away from work that you can’t enjoy it?
Below, I describe the least stressful medical specialties with the best work/life balance. Remember, being a physician doesn’t mean a life destined for burnout!
Statistics have been reported from the Medscape US Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2023 and Medscape Family Physician Lifestyle, Happiness & Burnout Report 2023.
WEBINAR: Exploring Medical Specialties – What to Think About and What it Takes
1. Public Health & Preventive Medicine
Physician Burnout Rate: 37%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours
Patient Needs: Most work is done outside of patient care settings
Doctors in public health and preventative medicine have both the lowest rate of burnout and the second-highest level of happiness in their work (second to plastic surgeons) among all physicians, according to the latest reports. It’s probably the least stressful medical specialty overall, although it’s not always the most popular among medical students because of the rarity of patient interaction.
These medical professionals almost never work directly with patients but focus on disease prevention, education, and policy measures for larger populations as a whole.
Because they are more likely to work in academic, governmental, nonprofit, or corporate settings, these jobs offer a similar work/life balance to many professions outside of medicine, working the fewest hours of many doctors.
Related: The Best Pre-Med Majors & How to Choose
2. Pathology
Physician Burnout Rate: 39%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours
Patient Needs: Most work is done outside of patient care settings
The remarkably low burnout rate for pathologists is probably due to the combination of predictable schedules, little to no patient interaction, and high salary expectation. As the doctors who diagnose a variety of illnesses, these doctors have a behind-the-scenes, low stress life, making them one of the best medical specialties for good work/life balance.
3. Cardiology
Physician Burnout Rate: 43%
Schedule Expectations: Hours vary; private practice offers standard office hours while cardiologists in hospital settings may work evening/weekend hours and/or frequently be on call
Patient Needs: Often major and/or life-threatening; mix of emergent and chronic cases
Cardiologists diagnose and treat more serious or emergent conditions and diseases than many of the doctors on my list, which should make this a high-stress job by most standards. Still, they report one of the lowest rates of burnout (eclipsed only by pathology and preventative medicine), possibly due to a combination of autonomy and income potential.
4. Nephrology
Physician Burnout Rate: 44%
Schedule Expectations: Hours vary; private practice offers standard office hours while nephrologists in hospital settings may work evening/weekend hours and/or frequently be on call
Patient Needs: Often major and/or life-threatening; mix of emergent and chronic cases
Similarly to cardiologists, nephrologists often treat serious cases and may work in private practice or hospital settings but also report some of the lowest rates of burnout throughout the medical profession.
5. Orthopedics
Physician Burnout Rate: 45%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours in office-based medical practice; orthopedic surgeons in hospital settings may work evening/weekend hours and/or frequently be on call
Patient Needs: Typically ongoing and chronic; may be complex and overwhelming (very rarely emergent or life-threatening)
Orthopedics, which includes orthopedic surgery as well as rheumatology and a few other sub-specialties, is often thought of as one of the lowest-burnout areas of specialty.
Many orthopedic doctors focus on supporting patients with problems in the musculoskeletal system, which are rarely life-threatening. Despite this, orthopedic surgeons and specialists restore quality of life in a big way to many of their patients, which might be why orthopedics (including surgery) is one of the happiest medical professions.
6. Plastic Surgery
Physician Burnout Rate: 46%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours in office-based medical practice
Patient Needs: Often minor, ongoing, and chronic; may be emergent (rarely life-threatening)
Plastic surgeons are typically thought of as the surgeons with the lowest stress levels and lowest burnout in surgery as a whole, though they scored one percentage point higher than orthopedics.
Patients often find their work personally meaningful, and plastic surgeons get the added benefit of rarely dealing with complicated insurance paperwork and reimbursements since it’s often a cash-only specialty.
It also doesn’t hurt that they are among the highest earners in medicine. Plastic surgeons make an average salary nearly 50% higher than the mean physician’s. Together, these factors make it unsurprising that plastic surgeons are the happiest of all specialists in the medical field!
General surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and orthopedic surgery are also associated with high job satisfaction.
Read Next: Average Residency Salary by Location and Post-Graduate Year (PGY)
7. Psychiatry
Physician Burnout Rate: 47%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours, may be on-call outside standard hours depending on the practice
Patient Needs: Typically ongoing and chronic; may be complex and overwhelming (very rarely emergent or life-threatening)
While mental health conditions can be very challenging to treat, psychiatrists have the benefit of often working with patients in the long-term, developing relationships and strategizing how to best treat ongoing issues. They also enjoy predictable hours and a generally stable work environment.
8. Urology
Physician Burnout Rate: 47%
Schedule Expectations: Hours vary; private practice offers standard office hours while urologists in hospital settings may work evening/weekend hours and/or frequently be on call
Patient Needs: Often ongoing, and chronic; may be emergent (rarely life-threatening)
Urologists are some of the happiest doctors and report lower burnout levels than many other specialties in medicine. This is actually a reversal of a trend from a few years prior, which may be a sign that the efforts within urology to reduce burnout and improve work/life balance (as well as pay rates) have had an impact.
Like cardiologists and nephrologists, urologists have ample opportunity to choose between private practice settings (which are generally less stressful) and system/hospital settings (which are considered to offer less consistent work/life balance and overall job satisfaction).
9. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Physician Burnout Rate: 47%
Schedule Expectations: Hours vary; private practice offers standard office hours while those in hospital settings may work evening/weekend hours
Patient Needs: Minor, ongoing, and chronic
PM&R physicians work with patients after an injury or illness to regain function and quality of life. 63% of these physicians report happiness with their jobs (which is on the high end, at least post-COVID). The workload for this specialty is usually predictable, though working in PM&R in a hospital setting is likely to translate to longer or less ‘9-5’ hours.
Similar to orthopedics, PM&R is a specialty that involves very little to no life-threatening disorders for patients, but in which success means patients regain quality of life.
10. Ophthalmology
Physician Burnout Rate: 48%
Schedule Expectations: Usually standard office hours, some Saturdays
Patient Needs: Typically minor, ongoing, and chronic (very rarely emergent or life-threatening)
Ophthalmologists also have a better work-life balance and lower burnout rates than many other specialists. Most work from an office-based practice and are likely able to spend time with their families, similar to those working in non-healthcare settings.
Learn what each specialty is like from the eyes of current residents. These free videos will introduce you to daily life in each specialty, along with the challenges and rewards of each.