Burnout affects a substantial share of nurse practitioners (NPs), but reported rates vary by survey, population, and definition. Medscape’s 2024 report found that 37% of U.S. NPs said they were burned out, while a separate APRN study found that 26.3% were currently experiencing burnout. The figures below keep each study’s population, timing, and measure explicit.
Contents
- Key nurse practitioner burnout rates
- Burnout, depression, and leaving medicine
- Workload and workplace drivers
- What APRN workforce data shows
- Practice environment and burnout risk
- Burnout and patient-care utilization
- Job satisfaction and intent to leave
Key nurse practitioner burnout rates
The most useful starting point is to compare findings from studies that measured burnout in different NP and APRN populations. These estimates should not be treated as one national rate because the samples and instruments were different.
| Study or source | Population and measure | Reported finding |
|---|---|---|
| Medscape NP Burnout & Depression Report 2024 | 1,525 U.S. nurse practitioners | 37% burned out |
| APRN burnout study, NursingCenter | 433 analyzable responses | 26.3% currently experiencing burnout |
| Primary care NP study | 396 NPs | 25.3% burnt out |
| Primary care NP study linked to claims | 1,244 NPs | 26.3% reported burnout |
| Community health center NP study | NPs in community health centers | Approximately 30% burned out |
The Medscape figure is the highest of these reported point estimates, but it also uses a distinct survey population and wording. The two primary care studies are close to one another at 25.3% and 26.3%, while the community health center estimate is approximately 30%. The NursingCenter study also separated current and past experience: 26.3% were currently experiencing burnout, 33.3% had formerly experienced it, and 40.4% had never experienced burnout.
The NursingCenter study reported a 43.6% response rate and a median respondent age of 38 years. NPs made up 76% of respondents, so its result describes an APRN sample rather than an NP-only sample. By contrast, the primary care study with 396 participants reports a direct NP estimate of 25.3%.
Burnout, depression, and leaving medicine
Medscape’s NP Burnout & Depression Report 2024 was published on August 9, 2024, and covered 1,525 U.S. nurse practitioners. Becker’s Hospital Review reported that 70% of NPs said they felt burned out, depressed, or both. That combined measure is broader than burnout alone.
Within the same report, 37% said they were burned out, 5% said they were depressed, and 28% said they felt both burned out and depressed. These categories explain why the combined 70% figure should not be read as a burnout-only rate: it includes respondents reporting depression, burnout, or both.
The report’s commentary also stated that 13% reported burnout and depression severe enough that they may leave medicine. This is a measure of potential departure associated with severe symptoms, not a count of NPs who actually left. Medscape said that NP burnout and depression rates had remained consistent across three annual reports, although the supplied report does not provide the individual annual rates.
The APRN burnout study used additional dimensions of the experience. It found high emotional exhaustion among 37.5% of respondents, high depersonalization among 15.7%, and low personal accomplishment among 15.3%. These dimensions are not interchangeable with the percentage currently experiencing burnout, but they show how different burnout-related measures can produce different results.
Workload and workplace drivers
The 2024 Medscape findings identified several workplace conditions that NPs cited as burnout drivers. Too many bureaucratic tasks were cited by 58% of respondents, making administrative burden the most frequently reported driver in the supplied findings. Lack of respect from coworkers was cited by 47%, and too many hours at work by 34%.
NCSBN’s APRN workforce analysis provides additional workload context. In its sample of 522,425 APRNs, 55.4% reported an increase in workload during the pandemic. APRNs reported a mean of 40 hours worked per week and a median of 24 years of experience. The workforce analysis also found that 79.1% reported direct patient care as their practice profile and 38.5% worked in hospitals.
The NCSBN scientific symposium presentation reported odds ratios connecting years of experience with several burnout descriptions. The odds ratio was 1.71 for feeling emotionally drained, 1.83 for feeling used up, 2.08 for feeling fatigued, 2.17 for feeling burned out, and 1.95 for feeling at the end of their rope. These are associations expressed as odds ratios, not percentages of NPs experiencing each condition.
In the same presentation, increased workload was associated with an odds ratio of 3.38 for feeling emotionally drained, 3.31 for feeling used up, 2.86 for feeling fatigued, 2.84 for feeling burned out, and 2.57 for feeling at the end of their rope. The results indicate a strong relationship between increased workload and burnout-related outcomes in that analysis, but they do not establish that workload alone caused each outcome.
What APRN workforce data shows
NCSBN’s 2024 APRN Survey represented 522,425 APRNs, equal to 11.8% of the RN workforce in the analysis. Certified nurse practitioners accounted for 71.1% of APRNs, followed by clinical nurse specialists at 16.8%, certified registered nurse anesthetists at 9.1%, and certified nurse midwives at 3.0%.
The APRN sample had a mean age of 50 years and a standard deviation of 11.9 years. In demographic self-identification, 86.7% identified as female, 92.5% as non-Hispanic, and 78.6% as White. These characteristics describe the analyzed sample; they are not a demographic profile for every NP in the United States.
The NCSBN analysis also reported that 65.2% of APRNs used telehealth, and 65.6% of telehealth users used more than one modality. Video calls represented 63.1% of telehealth practice. These are practice-pattern measures rather than burnout measures, but they help describe the work environment in which APRNs experienced workload changes.
The analysis described acute stress and burnout as being felt disproportionately by younger APRNs. It also reported that about 40% of nurses planned to leave nursing or retire over the next five years. That broader nursing estimate provides workforce context, but it should not be interpreted as an NP-specific five-year departure rate. The workforce analysis covered 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Practice environment and burnout risk
Primary care research suggests that the work environment can alter burnout risk. In a study of 396 primary care NPs, higher professional visibility was associated with a 51% lower risk of NP burnout. Better NP-physician relations were also associated with a 51% lower risk. Better NP-administration relations were associated with a 58% lower risk, while better independent practice and support were associated with a 56% lower risk.
These percentages describe associations from the study, not guaranteed reductions for an individual clinician. They do, however, point to specific organizational factors that can be examined alongside workload.
A community health center NP study rated independent practice and support at 3.51 out of 4, the highest-rated practice-environment subscale. NP-physician relations averaged 3.30 out of 4, and professional visibility averaged 3.19 out of 4. NP-administration relations averaged 2.91 out of 4, the lowest-rated subscale in that study. Approximately 30% of NPs in community health centers reported being burned out, even though over 89% reported being satisfied with their jobs.
Primary care work settings also varied. In a primary care NP panel study, 48% worked in physician practices, 22% in community health centers, 9% in hospital-based clinics, and 3% in retail or urgent care clinics. The setting distribution helps explain why burnout estimates from one practice population may not transfer directly to another.
Burnout and patient-care utilization
One study connected primary care NP burnout survey data with claims for 467,466 older adults with chronic conditions. Among 1,244 NPs, 26.3% reported burnout. The study then modeled relationships between a standardized burnout score and patient utilization.
A one-unit increase in the standardized burnout score was associated with 2.8% higher odds of an emergency department visit, represented by an odds ratio of 1.028. The same one-unit increase was associated with 3.2% higher odds of an emergency department visit for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions, with an odds ratio of 1.032.
Hospitalization odds were 3.9% higher per one-unit increase in the standardized burnout score, represented by an odds ratio of 1.039. For hospitalizations related to Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions, the increase was 6.2%, with an odds ratio of 1.062.
These results describe modeled associations across the study’s score and claims data. They do not mean that every one-unit change produces the same outcome for every patient, and they do not establish that NP burnout was the sole cause of an emergency visit or hospitalization.
Job satisfaction and intent to leave
Burnout and job satisfaction can coexist. In the community health center study, over 89% of NPs reported being satisfied with their jobs, while approximately 30% reported being burned out. About 25% were likely or very likely to leave their current position in the coming year.
Another primary care NP study found that 25% of participants were moderately dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their jobs. About 11% intended to leave their current jobs within one year. These findings measure dissatisfaction and stated intention separately from burnout, so they should not be added together.
Together, the available statistics show why nurse practitioner burnout is best tracked with several measures: current burnout, emotional exhaustion, workload, practice-environment support, job satisfaction, and intent to leave. The reported rates range from roughly one-quarter to more than one-third in several NP and APRN studies, while Medscape’s broader burnout-or-depression measure reached 70% among the 1,525 U.S. NPs surveyed in 2024.