Medscape’s Residents Salary & Debt Report 2014 was just released this week, surveying over 1,200 medical residents across more than 25 specialty residency programs. The survey focused on medical residents’ salary, debt, and overall experiences in residency.
Survey results found that the average resident salary was $55,300.
Other highlights from the report are as follows:
* Average salaries were highest in the Northwest (71k); lowest in the Southeast (50k)
* Residents in critical care received the highest salary at 65k
* Family Medicine residents received the lowest salary at 52k
* Average salaries increased from 51k the first year to 60k after the fifth year
* Men and women made an average of 56k and 54k, respectively
* Only 48% of men feel fairly compensated, compared to 57% of women
* 58% of residents owe over $100,000 of medical school debt after 5 years in
* 36% of residents owe more than $200,000
* The majority of residents (77%) felt that the hours worked are sufficient for training
Results of the Medscape survey follow closely with the Association of American Medical Colleges’ recent statistics of the indebted graduates, class of 2013, in their Medical Student Education: Debt, Costs, and Loan Repayment Fact Card. According to the AAMC, the mean debt for residents attending a public institution was 162k, and the mean debt was 181k for a private institution. The AAMC reports that 79% of graduates owe over 100k, while 40% owe over 200k.
In May, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that in inflation-adjusted terms, compensation has been essentially unchanged for 40 years. And according to a recent article in Slate, residents are paid about the hourly equivalent of hospital cleaning staff.
Physician’s Weekly wants to know...what are your thoughts about residents’ salaries and debt?
