Effect of Financial Remuneration on Specialty Choice of Fourth-year U.S. Medical Students

In Alabama we have a rural physician grant.  This program, which pays for medical school, has helped us greatly.  We need more funding for this program, but the funds have had a great impact on producing excellent family physicians for rural Alabama.

This study confirms what everyone knows, but could not prove.

The survey response rate was 56% (447/797). Sixty-six percent of students did not apply for a primary care residency. Of these, 30% would have applied for primary care if they had been given a median bonus of $27,500 (interquartile range [IQR] $15,000–$50,000) before and after residency. Forty-one percent of students would have considered applying for primary care for a median military annual salary after residency of $175,000 (IQR $150,000–$200,000). Students who considered primary care but chose a controllable lifestyle specialty (e.g., radiology) were nearly four times more likely to name an influential hypothetical salary than were students who did not consider primary care and chose a noncontrollable lifestyle specialty (e.g., surgery) (67% versus 17%, P < .0001).

Deep Throat was right.