Despite recent research on wellbeing in medicine, much of it fails to address the broader structural factors that contribute to physician satisfaction and wellbeing. To address that gap, researchers used a novel socio-ecological framework adapted from a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s “systems model,” and conducted interviews with 65 attendings, residents, medical students, and clinic staff or administrators.

This policy brief examines the interplay between individual, institutional, professional, and systems-level factors in shaping physicians’ responses to their work conditions across the career span, from medical students to attending physicians, and offers suggestions for policy interventions at various structural levels.