Will fear of debt keep you out of primary care (or out of med school period)?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p>According to this Bloomberg story, even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s son will leave medical school with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. See [Medical</a> School at $278,000 Means Even Bernanke Son Has Debt - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?) </p>

<p>The article also points out that fear of debt is driving many students away from a career in prirmary care, and sometimes out of medicine entirely.</p>

<p>How has worry about debt affected your (or your child’s) future plans?</p>

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<p>You know, I was just looking at this a few days ago and was pretty surprised. I would have thought it would have had a huge impact, but by and large, medical students state that it doesn’t.</p>

<p>Question #22 in the AAMC’s graduation questionnaire: The influence of debt on specialty choice: 50% no influence, 22.7% minor influence, 18.3% moderate influence, 8.7% strong influence.<a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/300448/data/2012gqallschoolssummaryreport.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/300448/data/2012gqallschoolssummaryreport.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (official page 33)</p>

<p>Or an academic article:</p>

<p>

[Can</a> Medical Students Afford to Choose Primary Care? An Econo… : Academic Medicine](<a href=“Can Medical Students Afford to Choose Primary Care? An Econo... : Academic Medicine”>Can Medical Students Afford to Choose Primary Care? An Econo... : Academic Medicine)</p>

<p>Again, I find this surprising too. I’d be curious to see if any of the cited studies are revealed preferences rather than stated preferences.</p>

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<p>“Ben Bernanke’s son will leave medical school with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.”
-Definitely a personal choice in this case specifically. As far as I heard about 25% of families are paying Med. School tuitions, most are nowhere close to the income level of this family.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, with regard to the fed reserve guy, my first thought was “this says something about the state of our country’s finances as there are plenty of people I know graduating with little to no debt and coming from far less wealthy families.”</p>

<p>If one had the time, one could look at the NRMP’s published match results and compare primary care #s to the others. For example it said that this year the percentage of family medicine slots filled by US MD grads was the highest it had been since 2001.</p>

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<p>At this point in my training, and with a decently good idea about what the rest of my training holds, and with at least some interest in primary care, I for one really hope my indebtedness does not govern my specialty choice. I don’t want to be in debt forever, but I also want to choose a field because it is personally and professional satisfying–not because it is lucrative. I’m sure paying off all this med school debt will be a bear, but at this point I’m naive and optimistic enough to think that I’ll find a way to manage my finances and have a rewarding career as a physician.</p>

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<p>Are there any studies or surveys showing the total student loan debt levels of physicians who go into each specialty?</p>

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<p>Only two schools surveyed, neither of which are particularly prestigious (although the survey/data collection method appears to be the best way to think about it): [Payback</a> time: the associations of debt and income w… [Med Educ. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22989132]Payback”>Payback time: the associations of debt and income with medical student career choice - PubMed)</p>

<p>The short answer is that it appears people with higher anticipated debt were more likely to be interested in high paying non primary care and were more likely to switch from being interested in primary care to eventually choosing to pursue non primary care.</p>

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<p>As far as know from my D’s desire of certain specialties along with her mentionning the same about her Med. School classmates, the money seems NOT to be a factor at all, it is priamrily the life style in regard to time (not money) and differences in personalities in different medical field. The latest has always been my D’s concern. She always has been the most sensitive about being surrounded with people that fits her personality the most. Different Medical specialties attract differeent personlities. Money are important because the future of the kids will depend on financial situation of the family. And it is not realistic to think that you will pay off quickly when many are still in debt in their 40s and much later. However, if person feels out of place, it will also have a negative impact on the family. As far as know this is the major concern of my D. and her classmates.</p>