Most women physicians want to work part time within a decade of finishing training. Far fewer actually do, according to research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
A study published Aug. 27 in JAMA Network Open tracked 710 physicians from an intern health study who completed residency between 2015 and 2024, with a median follow-up of 8.3 years. By the 10-year mark, 60.3% of female surgeons said they were considering part-time work, and 31.2% had made the move.
The pattern held across the cohort. Consideration of part-time work climbed in every group over the study period, reaching 70.9% among female nonsurgeons and 37.1% among male nonsurgeons at year 10. But the share who converted that intent into a reduced schedule lagged well behind, especially for men.
Women physicians had more than four times the odds of considering part-time work and more than 12 times the odds of actually moving to part time, after adjusting for age, race, marital status and years out of training. Parenthood and each additional year out of training were also tied to higher odds of working part time.
“This gap suggests that barriers may prevent physicians from realizing their desire to work part-time, including physician shortages, high levels of debt from medical training, or cultural stigma attached to reduced work effort,” the authors wrote.
For surgeons, they pointed to call responsibilities, continuity-of-care demands and long operative hours as structural obstacles.
The stakes are set by supply. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of roughly 86,000 physicians by 2036, and the authors framed an unmet desire for reduced hours as a possible early sign of departure from the workforce.
Tiffani Bell Washington, MD, chair of the American Medical Association’s women physicians section governing council, cautioned against reading the findings as a gender story.
“Sometimes we talk about part-time work as though someone is backing away from their career. I don’t necessarily see it that way,” she said in an Oct. 27 AMA article. “For some physicians, reducing clinical hours may be exactly what allows them to stay engaged in medicine rather than burning out and eventually leaving altogether.”
The study’s authors cast part-time scheduling as one option among several — alongside equitable parental leave, childcare support and normalized flexible arrangements — to curb turnover and lost productivity.
“Health systems risk losing experienced and talented physicians when they cannot offer that flexibility,” Dr. Bell Washington said.
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