Residents Salary & Debt Report

[WolfpackWife]

In case anyone was interested, also came across this via Medscape:

http://www.medscape.com/features/sli..._edit_specol#1

[MarissaNicole]

25% of residents have no debt? I find that shocking. Also I want to know what residencies work less than 60 hours in a week?!?

Wife of a PGY-5

[SoonerTexan]

Doesn't surprise me. Consider how many parents are paying.

If we had really really scrimped we probably could have come out with little debt. We didn't have any undergrad loans and DHs tuition was 16-18k a year

[poky]

25% of residents have no debt? I find that shocking. Also I want to know what residencies work less than 60 hours in a week?!?

Wife of a PGY-5

I was surprised that the percentage of people with no school debt was that high, too. I think dh is probably averaging about 60 hours per week this year, maybe a bit under. It helps that there's no call in em.

[MarissaNicole]

DH is on reasearch and he's probably averaging 60 hours. (But he's still reading and writing another 20 at home). It feels like vacation, he is around so much. But before this year we never had a week anywhere close to 60 hours.

Wife of a PGY-5

[LynnAlicia]

The respondents were from only 25 residency programs?! Aren't there like a 1000?

[WolfpackWife]

I think I chalked the no debt people up to either having parents pay or doing MD/PhD programs.

I was surprised by the fact that women make less than men. I know nationally, this is still a trend but in something as non-negotiable as a medical residency, I would assume there really isn't an opportunity for a female resident to choose to work less hours to spend time with family/children the way some women do in other professions (and the reason usually cited for why women are paid less). Other than maternity leave, I wasn't aware there was a way a woman could work less hours than a man in a medical residency, and even pre/post maternity leave, don't they usually have to make up the call they'd miss? Maybe I just don't fully understand, but I thought residency hours were non-negotiable and therefore why would a woman be making less?

[poky]

I think I chalked the no debt people up to either having parents pay or doing MD/PhD programs.

I was surprised by the fact that women make more than men. I know nationally, this is still a trend but in something as non-negotiable as a medical residency, I would assume there really isn't an opportunity for a female resident to choose to work less hours to spend time with family/children the way some women do in other professions (and the reason usually cited for why women are paid less). Other than maternity leave, I wasn't aware there was a way a woman could work less hours than a man in a medical residency, and even pre/post maternity leave, don't they usually have to make up the call they'd miss? Maybe I just don't fully understand, but I thought residency hours were non-negotiable and therefore why would a woman be making less?

I assume you mean women make less, not more? My bet is that there are enough higher paying residencies that matched more men than women to account for that difference. If there were only 25 institutions represented, that would exaggerate those differences.

[alotofyarn]

I was surprised by the fact that women make more than men. I know nationally, this is still a trend but in something as non-negotiable as a medical residency, I would assume there really isn't an opportunity for a female resident to choose to work less hours to spend time with family/children the way some women do in other professions (and the reason usually cited for why women are paid less). Other than maternity leave, I wasn't aware there was a way a woman could work less hours than a man in a medical residency, and even pre/post maternity leave, don't they usually have to make up the call they'd miss? Maybe I just don't fully understand, but I thought residency hours were non-negotiable and therefore why would a woman be making less?

I had the same thoughts. And the researcher in me wonders if they looked for confounders and controlled for those in their analyses (i.e., women being more likely to go into lifestyle specialties, peds, whatever).

[bobk]

WPW, I thought that was odd too. It's only 4% though and disparity could come from more women choosing specialties that are on the lower end of the pay scale for residents, such as ob/gyn.

[WolfpackWife]

All good points - I hadn't factored in the pay difference in specialty, which would make sense. And thanks, Sandy, for pointing out the error - I edited to correct it!

[LadyFoot]

WPW, I thought that was odd too. It's only 4% though and disparity could come from more women choosing specialties that are on the lower end of the pay scale for residents, such as ob/gyn.

I was really surprised that the report didn't mention this. This is only from anecdotal experience, but I know far more women going into family med, etc than higher-paying specialties.

I'd also like to know where they found all those residents who work less than 60 hours/week. DH is only in his 6th week of residency, but he's yet to average under 80 hours/week like he's "supposed" to.

Other surprising observation: 15% of residencies don't provide health coverage?! (They list to as the opposite, that 85% do provide it.) But for those 15%... we'll work you half to death, but if you get sick, sorry, you're on your own? What the heck?

[Vanquisher]

Also, I think the pay differences can be accounted for a lot of the time by PGY years. If more men are in neurosurgery (PGY-7) and women are in family (PGY-3), that would account for the disparity easily. Women don't get different residency contracts. I think that's a ridiculous conclusion that's easily jumped to by this article.

60 hours? Sounds dreamy. Even now. Residency was double that.

[Auspicious]

It doesn't say hours worked, though, it says hours at the hospital. And then in slide 27 a bunch of non-hospital workplaces are listed.

Also, 10% don't have any vacation?

[poky]

Also, I think the pay differences can be accounted for a lot of the time by PGY years. If more men are in neurosurgery (PGY-7) and women are in family (PGY-3), that would account for the disparity easily. Women don't get different residency contracts. I think that's a ridiculous conclusion that's easily jumped to by this article.

Ah! That makes even more sense, thanks. And my understanding is that all residencies at a particular institution all pay the same no matter what specialty, for each PGY. So, family med and neurosurg both make the same in PGY1 if they're at the same institution. Anyone know for sure if that's the case?