PA Jobs Career Mentorship & Education Newsletter, Issue III: March 2025

4 hours ago

8 min read

A PA Jobs LLC Newsletter

Authors: Shannon Crabtree, MMS, PA-C and Jennifer Vonderau, MMS, PA-C

Today's Topic: Burnout in the Physician Associate (PA) Profession

Most of us have heard of "burnout;" it's an often-cited issue amongst healthcare workers and a driving force behind staffing challenges and workplace dissatisfaction. For providers, the rate of burnout can exceed 50%, and for physician assistants specifically, about 43% meet qualifying criteria (Tanios 2022). Beyond our own experience, working with others who endorse burnout actually can influence our own wellbeing. So let's talk about the PA workplace, discuss the risk-factors for burnout, and consider some preventive measures to protect ourselves so we can continue to provide patient care in a safe and rewarding manner.

Emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and detachment are ideas that many PAs accept and assume are ubiquitous when working in healthcare. But they don't have to be; they shouldn't be. The prevalence of burnout should not normalize its features. Every workplace and every job has bad days and unexpected or adverse outcomes. But the total characterization of your role as challenging, meaningless, or depleting is not normal.

Beyond impacting your life outside of work, burnout negatively impacts patient care (cue the self-fulfilling prophecy). Studies demonstrate that healthcare workers experiencing burnout are more likely to ask fewer open-ended questions, make mistakes, and miss diagnoses. And their patients have higher rates of death (de Lima García 2019). Per the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), emergency medicine, critical care, oncology, hospital medicine, and family medicine have the highest rates of burnout, as well as those practicing in community health centers (NCCPA 2022).

Safety in the workplace as a healthcare provider is another rising threat for burnout. Did you know that healthcare workers account for a staggering 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses (US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018)? The World Health Organization (WHO) states that more than a third of all healthcare workers will experience physical violence in the workplace at least once in their career (WHO 2022). Unfortunately, onboarding often fails to address these concerns robustly. What are we doing to protect ourselves and each other?

Atypical work hours can lead to missed events and activities that are self-protective; time spent on charting and electronic-record messaging is often minimally accounted for; unsafe or uniquely traumatic patient care scenarios (i.e. running a code, patient death, complex social situations, etc.) can overload our senses and ability to cope; and compassion fatigue, which is extreme stress from helping others that leads to a loss of nurturing, can result in less space and patience for our family and friends at home. When putting all of this together, it is no wonder that burnout is the second most commonly cited reason for why PAs are considering leaving their current position (NCCPA 2022).

How can we break this cycle? How can we protect ourselves? Hobbies and goals outside of the workplace are important parts of decompression and self-care (sleep hygiene, yoga or meditation, physical activity, social community, eating nutritious and filling meals, hydration, etc.), but most of us aren't finding 15 minutes in our day to take a breath between patients. Let's talk about some practical day-to-day things you can integrate into your life and work as a PA to reverse and prevent burnout in your workplace. Let's do more than survive as PAs. Dare we say it? Dream to thrive.

Mentorship Spotlight

Navigating Career Longevity and Avoiding Burnout

by Marissa Liveris, MMS, PA-C

When I started my career as a PA, I, like many others, was eager to prove myself, to say “yes” to every opportunity, and to push through long hours, complex patient cases, and administrative burdens. I loved the medicine, and I loved my patients, and I thought that would be enough. Over time, I learned an important truth: success in this profession isn’t about endurance—it’s about sustainability. Finding fulfillment as a PA isn’t just about hard work; it’s about knowing your limits, recognizing when to say no, and working in an environment that values you as a clinician and as a person.

The reality is that burnout is not just an individual problem—it’s systemic. Although I’m a firm believer in mindfulness-based stress reduction and I love yoga as much as the next person, those are not solutions to a system that demands too much with too little support. True wellness comes from working within structures that set clinicians up for success—where questions are valued, patient volumes are manageable, and administrative time is protected. You can’t poster your way out of burnout—putting up a picture of a flower in the breakroom isn’t a substitute for paying people a living wage or ensuring they have the support they need. Long-term career satisfaction isn’t just about personal resilience; it’s about workplaces and systems that genuinely invest in the well-being of their clinicians.

Life only gets busier. I’m a full-time PA educator, a practicing clinician, a PhD student, and a parent. There’s no perfect balance, but I’ve learned that the key is knowing when to lean in and when to step back. Lean into the opportunities that excite you, energize you, and that align with your values. Step away from the ones that drain you when you have the ability to do so. Not everyone has that flexibility, and I recognize the privilege of being able to make those choices—but when you can, being intentional about how you spend your time makes all the difference.

That same intentionality applies to how we show up for our patients, our profession, and each other. Advocacy doesn’t have to mean policy work or big systemic change (though it can!). Sometimes, it's a simple as making space for a colleague who needs support, speaking up when something isn't working, or helping a patient navigate a complicated healthcare system. Small actions add up, shaping a profession and a work environment where all of us can thrive.

You’ve chosen a profession with incredible opportunities. The flexibility you have as a PA is unmatched - whether it’s changing specialties, adjusting your workload, or stepping into leadership, research, or education. If something isn’t working for you, you have the power to pivot. That’s one of the greatest strengths of our profession. So wherever you are in your career, remember: this is a profession built on adaptability. Embrace it, use it, and shape your path in a way that allows you to thrive.

Tangible Tips to Prevent and Reverse Burnout

Find creative energy completing a performance improvement (PI) project using CME-approved time and funding. NCCPA will award 40 category 1 hours for 20 hours of work on a performance improvement project. Improve your workplace while protecting your time.
Chart after seeing each patient and close the encounter the same day. Charting is patient care. It also counts toward billed time if completed same day. If your employer doesn't pay for your work on nights and weekends, then don't chart on nights and weekends. Need time to catch up? Make sure your employer knows the actual amount of time it takes to see a patient and close an encounter. And keep your free time free.
Start your day with quiet tasks, like emptying your inbox and medication requests (if you're an outpatient provider) or performing chart review before rounds (if you're an inpatient provider). A flustered, rushed morning that jumps immediately into patient care can leave you feeling scrambled and inefficient. Take a few minutes each morning to feel prepared for the day.
Delegate and protect your time from demands that don't require your license, align with your expertise, or fit your practice schedule. It is ok to say no, and it's important to create a culture of boundaries and mutual respect. Caring for your team members is what helps make the PA role so valuable, but staying in your lane allows your coworkers to better define their own space and optimizes overall team efficiency.
Speak up when simple problems have simple solutions. Toxic workplaces provide ample fodder for gossip and blaming. But a proactive workplace is one where humility allows for feedback and change. If your employer and/or your health system isn't responsive to solutions, then decide for yourself if their decision-making aligns with yours (and is worth your time and allegiance).
Call attention to the risk of errors and injury when your workplace is understaffed, contemptuous, or unsafe. Nearly all health systems have a means of filing reports for near-misses and safety events, and there are teams that review them. Don't spend time complaining without action - clarify the risk and submit it.
Expand your career interests by pursuing CME or supplementary credentials or certificates. Improving your own practice and expertise can build confidence and satisfaction in your workplace (and open up opportunities).
Spend a few minutes practicing gratitude and reminding yourself why you enjoy healthcare and being a PA. Re-reading notes from kind patients or positive reviews can help you remember that you're good at this and it's worthwhile.
Debrief after difficult patient cases with friends, family, or a journal. Long days, and days spent feeling unsupported, can worsen indecision, compassion fatigue, and errors in judgment. Hard is hard, and it's important to find a way to release the pressure of helping patients heal.
Know you're not alone. Find a community and a support system that gets it and gets you. Keeping your identity is the surest way to survive a challenging work environment, and a community network is the best way to find another practice (should you need one). We're all in this together.

Well-Being Practices for Daily Life to Avoid Burnout

By Samantha Payne, Health Coach and Wellness Consultant

Discover what fills your cup

We all have things that help replenish our energy, specifically our mental, emotional, and physical energy. Spend a moment thinking about one thing that helps you feel rejuvenated in each of these areas. Then think about why that helps you feel refreshed and why that is so important to you. Now, make it a goal to fulfill one these areas each day (mentally, emotionally, or physically), and when you run into barriers, keep your "why", and its importance, close in mind. Better yet - time block your goal into your day to help keep yourself accountable and to have something to look forward to!

Practice flexibility with big picture thinking

It is easy to get bogged down in daily routines and overwhelmed with to dos, but implementing a flexible mindset can go a long way for your mental wellbeing. Forgiving yourself for not doing 'everything' on your list, or being okay with deprioritizing one thing in lieu of another, allows you to accept your current capacity and accomplishments without losing site of your larger picture goals. Going in to each day with a flexible mindset helps lighten your mental load while keeping overall goals in mind and moving forward. Lightening your mental load in this way will actually help to propel you closer to your goals.

Celebrate successes, no matter how small

Each day has wins, even if some days it's easier to see them than others. Identifying daily successes improves your perspective and keeps you focused on the positive. It can be easy to perceive monotony in our standard activities of daily life, but seeking out the positives in each day keeps our focus and mindset optimistic. The great trick about this is, the more you look for, the more you’ll find.

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