Across imaging departments, radiologists, technologists, and support staff are being asked to do more with fewer resources. Imaging volumes continue to climb while staffing shortages persist, forcing many departments to constantly operate in catchup mode. At the same time, clinicians face growing administrative demands, faster turnaround expectations, and fragmented workflows that require navigating multiple software systems throughout the day.
The result is mounting pressure across nearly every corner of the imaging enterprise—pressure, experts say, is fueling widespread burnout and pushing the profession toward a breaking point. With rising workloads and limited staffing, some experts believe radiology may need to rethink staffing, workflows, and technology to remain sustainable.
Burnout in the field is hardly new. “I have been in the radiology space for about 13 years now,” says Stephen Champlin, PhD, chief interoperability officer of the radiology technology company CIVIE. Burnout has been a hot topic for the last five or six years, especially since the COVID pandemic, Champlin says, and it appears to have intensified ever since.
While burnout is widespread across health care, radiology stands out. Although overall physician burnout rates have declined somewhat since their pandemic peak, radiologists remain among the most affected specialties. According to recent American Medical Association data, 45.2% of radiologists reported at least one symptom of burnout in 2025, compared with 41.9% of physicians overall. Radiology ranked fifth among specialties with the highest burnout levels, behind emergency medicine, urological surgery, hematology/oncology, and OB/GYN.
A study published online in February in the Journal of the American College of Radiology by the Neiman Health Policy Institute underscores the trend and points to deeper structural issues within the field. The study, based on 39,439 radiologists covering 280,692 practice years between 2013 and 2022, found a 61% increase in turnover. In a press release about the study, Eric Christensen, PhD, research director at the Neiman Institute, says that after adjusting for differences in radiologist and practice characteristics, the likelihood that a radiologist would change jobs in a given year was about twice as high during the 2020 to 2022 period as in 2013. “This doubling over a short time period is remarkable,” he says.
Champlin says the level of responsibility placed on radiologists continues to grow. “Volumes are going up across emergency, inpatient, and outpatient settings, and the number of new radiologists coming out of training isn’t keeping pace,” he says. Champlin believes this imbalance is at the core of what is driving burnout.
Abhishek Gupta, senior vice president of health care and life sciences at Mastek, a global enterprise digital and cloud transformation specialist, believes the issue has become broader and more systemic than a staffing shortage alone. “Burnout in imaging is no longer the result of a single pressure point,” Gupta says. “It is the cumulative effect of rising imaging volumes, workforce shortages, faster turnaround expectations, administrative burden, and fragmented clinical workflows.”
Radiologists today are expected to interpret growing numbers of studies while navigating multiple software systems, documentation requirements, interruptions, quality reporting mandates, and constant communication with referring physicians, Gupta says. The issue is not only that there are too few radiologists—it is that the work itself has become increasingly difficult to manage.
A System Under Strain
Compounding the problem is the fact that workforce growth in radiology has lagged behind demand.
The imbalance extends beyond radiologists. According to Brent Murphy, founder and CEO of John Patrick University of Health and Applied Sciences, and Anthony Mungo, founder and CEO of the Center for Radiology Education, the shortage of radiologic technologists is particularly acute. Nationally, the deficit exceeds 85,000, with some regions experiencing staffing gaps of up to 28% depending on modality—X-ray, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, and sonography—and location, they say.
The consequences are felt daily in imaging departments, Murphy says. Fewer technologists must manage more patients, often with increasingly complex exams. Breaks become shorter or disappear altogether. Shifts stretch longer. The pace accelerates. “This creates a constant sense of being behind,” Mungo says. “Over time, that sustained imbalance—high workload, limited staffing, and rising complexity—drives chronic fatigue and emotional exhaustion.”
Morris Panner, president of Intelerad, a GE HealthCare company, points to another major contributor of burnout: what he calls “swivel-chair interoperability”—the need to move constantly between systems and interfaces. “When radiologists are toggling between different viewers and logging into separate portals, they’re spending time acting as data integrators instead of clinical experts,” Panner says.
Gupta echoes that concern, arguing radiology’s operational structure has failed to evolve alongside rising imaging demand. “From my perspective, imaging burnout is as much an operating model challenge as it is a staffing challenge,” he says. “The real challenge is not simply adopting more technology. It is making sure technology fits naturally into how radiologists, technologists, administrators, and referring clinicians actually work.”
According to Panner and Gupta, while administrative friction might appear insignificant on its own, when it accumulates throughout a day or over one’s career, it gradually undermines efficiency, focus, and job satisfaction.
Productivity Pressure
Experts believe part of radiology’s burnout challenge lies in the nature of the work itself. Unlike many specialties, imaging operates around the clock. Hospitals require 24/7 coverage, including overnight and weekend shifts that disrupt circadian rhythms and contribute to fatigue.
“Lack of flexibility has taken a toll,” Champlin says. “There’s a sense that there’s no real end in sight, which creates that feeling of burnout and, frankly, some of the gloom and doom you hear about.”
At the same time, traditional practice models have been slow to adapt. Many radiology groups remain structured around fixed schedules and partnership tracks that limit flexibility, even as radiologists increasingly seek more control over when and how they work, Champlin says.
This creates tension within practices. Partners must ensure coverage for contracted hospitals, often relying on a subset of physicians to take less desirable shifts. Over time, that uneven distribution of work deepens dissatisfaction.
“There’s often a group within each practice that shoulders the brunt of the work,” Champlin says. “They’re the ones taking the overnight shifts or making sure the worklist is cleared. That imbalance contributes directly to burnout.”
Burnout in radiology is not limited to physicians. Marissa Mangrum, MSRS, RT(T), president-elect of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, emphasizes that it is a departmentwide issue affecting technologists, therapists, and support staff alike. “Increasing workloads and workforce shortages are driving burnout across all disciplines,” Mangrum says.
External pressures also contribute. The expectation of constant availability—through email, messaging platforms, and remote access—blurs the boundary between work and personal life. “Clinicians are often unable to disconnect outside scheduled shifts, feeling the constant pressure of patient needs and system demands,” Mangrum says.
Within the workplace, the emphasis on productivity has intensified. Imaging departments are under pressure to do more with less, often without corresponding increases in staffing or resources. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle: higher volumes lead to greater stress, which contributes to turnover and further worsens staffing shortages, Champlin says.
What’s Working and What’s Not
The field is openly addressing burnout, but many organizations are still struggling to determine what truly works. Many of these efforts to address burnout have shifted away from individual-focused solutions toward systemic change.
“Research shows that organizational interventions are more effective than those focused solely on individuals,” Mangrum says. “Improving workflow, addressing staffing shortages, and fostering a supportive culture can make a meaningful difference.”
Workflow optimization has become a major focus, with many organizations investing in technologies designed to streamline operations and reduce administrative burden, Champlin says. He says teleradiology technologies can help address burnout because they allow radiologists to log in from wherever they are, when they want, and take cases on demand. “There are no mandatory shifts, nights, or rigid contracts,” he says. “Teleradiology allows 24/7 coverage without overburdening one group.”
Panner agrees the move toward “intelligent orchestration” is a promising approach. Rather than relying on static worklists, these systems dynamically route cases to the most appropriate radiologist based on subspecialty, availability, and urgency. The goal, Panner says, is to balance workloads in real time, reduce bottlenecks, and allow clinicians to focus on interpretation rather than task management.
Gupta says many organizations are also exploring centralized worklists, remote and hybrid reading models, flexible scheduling, workflow automation, and analytics tools that identify operational bottlenecks before they become major problems. “We are seeing organizations look at better workload balancing, improved staffing visibility, workflow automation, and analytics to identify bottlenecks,” he says.
AI is another piece of the puzzle. “Some are also exploring AI-assisted tools for triage, image prioritization, report support, repetitive measurements, and reducing administrative burden,” Gupta says. While not a replacement for radiologists, many in the field see AI tools as essential to managing rising volumes.
Still, experts caution that technology alone is not a cure. “The patchwork approach is not working,” Panner says. “Adding standalone tools or layering new systems on top of old ones can actually increase the burden if they’re not integrated.”
Gupta agrees that poorly implemented technology can worsen the problem. “If AI generates more alerts, adds more verification steps, or requires more clicks, it can increase cognitive load rather than reduce it,” he says. “Technology introduced without workflow redesign can become another burden.”
Rethinking the Model
Many current strategies fall into the category of short-term relief rather than long-term solutions. Financial incentives, travel staffing, and wellness programs can help stabilize departments temporarily, but they do little to address the underlying imbalance between supply and demand, Murphy and Mungo believe. In some cases, they may even create new challenges. Competition for talent can drive up costs and contribute to turnover as clinicians move between organizations seeking better compensation or working conditions, they say.
“Much of the field is treating the symptoms rather than the root cause,” Murphy says. “Until we increase the pipeline of trained technologists, burnout will persist.”
The pipeline issue is not easily solved. Training new technologists and radiologists takes time, and educational capacity is limited. Expanding programs requires investment, coordination, and long-term planning, Mungo adds.
Gupta says organizations often struggle because burnout interventions are implemented as isolated fixes rather than part of a coordinated operational strategy. “A new AI tool, reporting template, or scheduling process may help in one part of the workflow, but if it is not integrated into the broader imaging operation, it can create friction elsewhere,” he says.
Amid these challenges, new models of work are beginning to emerge. Champlin points to the rise of more flexible, on-demand approaches to radiology staffing. Platforms that allow radiologists to log in and read studies on their own schedules aim to provide greater autonomy and reduce the rigidity of traditional practice structures, he says. In these models, radiologists can choose when and where they work, often supplementing their primary positions with additional shifts. Geographic distribution also plays a role, enabling coverage across time zones.
“If it’s 2 AM on the East Coast, it’s still 11 PM on the West Coast,” Champlin says. “Having radiologists spread out helps balance the workload.”
Such approaches are not without challenges, particularly for established practices that must maintain consistent coverage, he notes. But they reflect a broader shift toward flexibility and individualized work patterns.
Compensation models are evolving, as well, with some platforms offering real-time productivity tracking and performance-based incentives. While these features may improve engagement for some, they also raise questions about the long-term impact on workload and expectations.
Gupta believes successful organizations are redesigning operations around clinician capacity rather than simply adding more work. “That includes using analytics to distribute workload more fairly, giving radiologists greater flexibility and control over schedules where possible, reducing unnecessary administrative tasks, improving handoffs between technologists, radiologists, and referring clinicians, and applying AI to very specific pain points,” he says.
Supportive leadership that prioritizes a positive workplace culture is also key to reducing burnout at all levels, Mangrum says.
Cautious Optimism
Despite the scale of the problem, there are signs of progress. Advances in AI and workflow design are beginning to yield efficiency gains. Awareness of burnout as a systemic issue has increased, prompting more meaningful interventions. And new workforce models are expanding the range of options available to clinicians.
“We’ve stopped the bleeding,” Champlin says. “It’s not necessarily getting worse, but it’s not getting dramatically better, either. There’s still an uphill battle.”
For Gupta, the key will be whether health systems can move beyond temporary fixes and fundamentally rethink how imaging operations are structured. “The key lesson is that burnout cannot be solved by asking radiologists to adapt to broken workflows,” he says. “Hospitals and imaging centers need to redesign those workflows so radiologists are better supported, both clinically and operationally.”
The organizations making the greatest progress, Gupta says, are those approaching burnout as a system design issue rather than an individual failing. “What appears to work best is redesigning the imaging operating model around capacity, workflow, and workforce needs,” he says.
Mungo and Murphy believe that efforts such as better compensation, flexible scheduling, workflow improvements, and stronger workplace culture are helping stabilize the workforce. “These approaches are providing temporary relief,” Murphy says. But, he adds, “they don’t solve the fundamental supply-and-demand imbalance.”
Ultimately, addressing burnout in radiology will require a multifaceted approach—one that combines technology, workforce development, cultural change, and structural reform, the experts agree.
— Beth W. Orenstein of Northampton, Pennsylvania, is a freelance medical writer and regular contributor to Radiology Today.