Nearly half of physicians report worse mental health than pre-pandemic, though some improvements
February 27, 2026 - Ipsos in Canada, on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), conducted extensive research to provide current, relevant data on the state of physician wellness in Canada. The 2025 National Physician Health Survey (NPHS) is the third iteration of this landmark study, following waves that gathered baseline data in 2017 and pandemic-era insights in 2021.
Canada’s health care system continues to face unprecedented pressures in the post-pandemic era, making physician health and wellness more critical than ever. The 2025 survey comes at a pivotal moment as the profession navigates ongoing workforce challenges, emerging technologies, and evolving workforce safety concerns.
The findings serve as a guide for organizations, researchers, educators, and policy-makers in strengthening initiatives to support a thriving health workforce.
Key survey findings include:
A Slow Recovery in Mental Health and Wellness:
- 46% of physicians say their mental health is worse than it was before the pandemic, though this represents a 14-point improvement from 2021.
- Burnout remains high at 46% (down from 53% in 2021). Burnout is particularly high among women (49%), doctors with 6 to 10 (56%) and 11 to 20 (51%) years in practice, and those in rural or small-town settings (50%).
- 42% of physicians screened positive for depression. While this is a drop from 2021 (48%), it remains higher than the 2017 baseline (34%). Rates are significantly higher among medical residents and fellows (58%).
- 21% report moderate to severe anxiety, a 4% decrease since 2021.
Administrative Burden and the Role of Technology:
- Physicians work an average of 10.4 hours per week on administrative tasks, with 64% reporting they spend a significant amount of time on electronic medical records (EMRs) outside of regular hours.
- Technology may offer emerging relief: 21% of physicians now use AI tools, with 59% of users saying these tools have already reduced their administrative load.
Workplace Safety Concerns Persist:
- 74% of respondents report experiencing bullying, harassment, microaggressions, and/or discrimination on the job.
- These incidents are most often tied to gender expression/identity (47%), and the most common source is patients or their families/friends (58%).
Signs of Improvement in Work-Life Balance and Help-Seeking:
- 60% of respondents report being satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance, up from 49% in 2021.
- 65% have accessed at least one wellness support in the past five years, an 11% increase since 2021.
Retention Pressures and Potential Solutions:
- Workforce strain is impacting system capacity: 37% of physicians plan to reduce their clinical hours in the next 24 months.
- To improve recruitment and retention, physicians identified key priorities, including reducing administrative burden (77%), supporting team-based care (46%), promoting safe work environments (40%), and improving interoperability/connected health systems (39%).
See the ‘CMA 2025 National Physician Health Survey’ report here:
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos research conducted on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association.
The 2025 National Physician Health Survey (NPHS) was conducted between March 11 and April 15, 2025. An open link survey, offered in both English and French, was promoted by the CMA via email to CMA members, social media, creative advertising, CMA website, as well as support from external parties who distributed the link to their own networks. An open link survey methodology was used to ensure that physicians beyond the CMA membership were invited. Efforts were taken to make the reach as broad and representative as possible. Participation in this study was voluntary.
A total of 3,310 practising physicians and medical residents completed the 2025 NPHS (n = 2,942 practising physicians, n = 337 medical residents, n = 31 fellows).
As part of the initial analysis, the data were weighted to determine how outcomes might be affected by the weighting. Outcomes from this weighted dataset were then compared with the unweighted results. It was found that there were no major differences in outcomes when comparing the weighted and unweighted datasets. The decision was, therefore, made to leave the data unweighted to minimize the interaction of the weighting of a variable with the weighting of another variable.
For the national results, full details on the methodology, study limitations, the questionnaire and other considerations, see the CMA 2025 National Physician Health Survey.
All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. Unless otherwise indicated, all questions reported exclude “don’t know” and/or “not applicable” and/or “prefer not to answer” responses. Numerical data provided in this report were rounded to the nearest integer in accordance with standard mathematical rounding rules. For values with a decimal part of 0.5 or higher, the number was rounded up, whereas values with a decimal part of less than 0.5 were rounded down. The reader should bear the impact of rounding in mind while summing the values.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sanyam Sethi
Vice President, Ipsos Public Affairs
[email protected]
Jenny Lee
Account Manager, Ipsos Public Affairs
[email protected]
About Ipsos
Ipsos is the world’s third largest market research company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.
Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.
ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP
