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We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com. Back to Healio Key takeaways: Invisible work is defined as tasks done behind-the-scenes in the clinic or at home that are often unseen. Physicians often perform invisible work, but for women physicians the burden is greater. CHICAGO \u2014 For women physicians, the workday often extends beyond the clinic, with unseen tasks at work and home adding to the demands of practicing medicine, according to a presenter at the Women in Medicine Summit. These unseen tasks, which range from additional professional expectations, such as mentoring and responding to patient messages, to family responsibilities, such as coordinating care for children and running a household, are known as \u201cinvisible work,\u201d and may be impacting women\u2019s roles in medicine, according to Gretchen Rickards, MD, MPH, PCC, internal medicine physician at ChristianaCare and founder of GR Coaching and Consulting.
Data derived from interview.
Gretchen Rickards \u201cWe are losing women physicians from clinical practice, and we are losing them far too early,\u201d Rickards told Healio. \u201cA large national study published this year found that women had a 43% higher likelihood of leaving clinical practice than men at any given age. Among physicians who left during the study period, the median age was 49 for women and 64 for men.\u201d Within 6 years of training, women physicians are also significantly more likely than men to be working part-time or not at all, with family cited as the most influential factor by more than three-quarters of those women, according to a 2019 study published in JAMA Network Open. Women physicians also report higher levels of burnout, according to the latest AMA data. Despite overall improvement in physician burnout since the height of the pandemic, the AMA found that 46% of women physicians vs. 37% of men still report symptoms of burnout in 2026. \u201cThose numbers should make us curious,\u201d Rickards said. \u201cWhat is different about women\u2019s experience in medicine? What are women being asked to carry, both at work and at home?\u201d According to Rickards, invisible work is not the whole explanation for these differences, but it is a contributor that is underrecognized. \u201cUnderstanding why women are stepping back from clinical practice matters not only for women physicians themselves, but for healthcare more broadly,\u201d Rickards said. \u201cWhen experienced women physicians reduce their hours or leave clinical medicine, our patients and organizations lose their expertise and perspectives, and the next generation of physicians loses mentors and role models.\u201d Healio spoke with Rickards about how to identify invisible work and how women and organizations can take steps to reduce this burden. Healio: What is invisible work? Rickards: Invisible work is all the work that happens behind the scenes to keep our workplaces and households functioning but that often goes unseen, uncounted, unrecognized or undervalued. Sociologist Arlene Kaplan Daniels, PhD, introduced the term in the 1980s to describe forms of unpaid labor traditionally carried by women, such as housework and volunteer work, that are essential to families and communities but culturally and economically devalued. Invisible work can take many forms. It can include the mental load of anticipating and remembering what needs to be done at work and at home; the emotional and relational work of supporting colleagues, friends and family; coordinating and providing care for children, aging parents or other family members; domestic work and household administration; and necessary but often undervalued work in our organizations, such as mentoring, committee service and planning social events. For physicians, invisible work can also include patient care that continues outside the exam room and often long after the workday ends: finishing notes, reviewing results, responding to patient messages, following up on care or staying late to support a patient or family through a difficult conversation. Any one of these tasks may seem small, but the cumulative weight can be enormous in terms of time, attention and emotional energy. There is also an opportunity cost. At home, invisible work can crowd out rest, relationships, hobbies and time for ourselves. At work, it can leave less time and energy for scholarship, professional development, networking and other career-advancing opportunities. Healio: Does invisible work disproportionately affect women physicians? If so, in what ways and why? Rickards: Invisible work is certainly not unique to women physicians. Women across professions carry a disproportionate share of it, both at work and at home. There are aspects of medicine, however, that can amplify its impact. Physicians work long hours in an extraordinarily physically and emotionally demanding environment. Women physicians also tend to carry more invisible work than their male physician peers. Research has found that women physicians receive more patient and staff messages, spend more time on notes and other EHR work, and report spending more time on the citizenship work that keeps our organizations functioning. Women physicians with children also spend more time on parenting and domestic responsibilities than their male physician peers. When you layer all of that onto the demands of practicing medicine, the cumulative impact can be significant. Healio: What are some solutions to lessen the burden of invisible work for women in healthcare? Rickards: I do not think the answer is to tell women to get better at saying no or simply do less. Not all invisible work is work we want to eliminate. Some of it is necessary, and some of it can be deeply meaningful or fulfilling, such as mentoring trainees, supporting a patient through a difficult moment or caring for someone we love. Instead, I encourage women to ask: Am I carrying this intentionally? And am I carrying it in a way that is sustainable? 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