COVID-19 may be the latest challenge to primary care physicians, but it’s just one of many threatening the profession, including the increased focus on specialty drug markets—if PCPs are left out of the equation.

The death of Lorna Breen, MD, FAEP, the New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital clinician who took her own life in April 2020, drew new attention to physician suicide, and led to an act of legislation that bears her name.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing issue of clinician burnout related to health IT use, according to a national survey from the Physicians Foundation.

Sixty-one percent of physicians reported experiencing burnout in 2021, up from 40 percent in 2018, according to a small survey the Physicians Foundation released Aug. 4. The survey is based on responses from 2,504 U.S. physicians collected between May 26 and June 9. Thirty-six percent of physicians were in primary care. The remaining 64 percent practiced in one of 27 specialties.

The pandemic has had a negative impact on physician mental health, with 57% of survey respondents reporting inappropriate feelings of anger, sadness, or anxiety because of COVID-19.

A total of 46% of physicians said they have isolated or withdrawn from other people in the last year, more than one in three said they felt hopeless or without a purpose, and 57% reported experiencing "inappropriate episodes of anger, tearfulness, or anxiety."

At the same time, physicians at the intersection of burnout and growing older are closing their practices or retiring (see the Next Avenue article, "When Your Trusted Professionals Retire"). The Physicians Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, in a report issued in August 2020 says COVID-19 prompted the closing of approximately 16,000 medical practices with another 8,000 expected to close within the year.

"Return to normal" comes up a lot when discussing the COVID-19 pandemic. When used broadly, the expression can refer to when the country will return to normal. Or it can be scaled down to refer to benchmarks used for any industry or profession.

With roughly 156 million Americans fully vaccinated for COVID-19, physicians are seeing signs of relief on the horizon. That relief can't come soon enough.