Assessment of incentives for student loan debt repayment among recent dermatology residency graduates.

Tierney EP, Kalia S, Kimball AB.

The shortage and geographic maldistribution of dermatologists substantially affects patient access to dermatologic care. At the same time, student loan debt has been rising at a rate far surpassing that of inflation. In light of the oft-cited proposal to use debt repayment to influence physician maldistribution, we designed survey questions to discover whether recent dermatology residency graduates would be willing to practice in underserved areas in exchange for student loan debt repayment.

METHODS: Data were collected at a board review course attended by many recent residency graduates, as previously described.

RESULTS: In 2006 and 2007, 52.0% (n=139 of 261) and 66.0% (n=162 of 266) of attendees completed the survey. In 2006 and 2007, location was described by 73.1% as “very important” in job selection (n=220). In 2006, 60.6% of respondents graduated with student loan debt (n=84), increasing to 69.1% in 2007 (n=112). The average student loan principal was $108 411 (aggregated over 2006 and 2007).

Arch Dermatol. 2009 Feb;145(2):208-9.

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