Benefits and Perks For Medical Residents & Fellows in USA

I have already covered Resident Doctor Salaries in USA and even cribbed that they are underpaid as doctors - lets look at what other perks are residents offered by residency programs to sweeten the deal of a low pay !

All These are not necessarily offered by all residency programs, you are bound to see a varying combination of these.


A. Vacation [That's a perk I need all year round ;-)]

- Residency Programs usually allow 3 weeks of paid leaves per year to First year Residents [ also called Interns or PGY1] and up to 4 weeks for PGY2 and PGY3 residents - of course the vacation schedule has to be coordinated with all residents to have enough of them around at any
given day
- Additional paid Holidays, such as National holidays, are observed by most programs
- Maternity leave of absence for female residents (Males wish....)..but then the males can get a 'paternity leave'

The vacation rules are outlined by the individual specialty board, which vary widely. Read about Specialty-wise vacation rules for residencies here.

B. Academic Perks

- Annual Allowance for purchasing books
- Annual Allowance for Attending Conferences
- Payment for USMLE Step 3
- Membership Fees paid for relevant professional organizations
- Sabbaticals for short-term projects at known institutions like the NIH, CDC,etc. or even abroad



C. Economic Perks

- Moonlighting Permission [ Read - "what is moonlighting"]
- Free Medical Insurance coverage along with full or partial insurance coverage of family members...and that's one of the reasons why you maybe asked during your interview : "Are you married or are you planning to marry" - coz that may mean more expenses for the program ;-)
- Free Dental Insurance
- Free Professional Liability Insurance (Malpractice)
- Life Insurance, (in case you are murdered by your attending physician ;-))
- Free Food while on Duty (the famous 'resident's lounge)
- There maybe attached banks ready to approve residents for a zero-down payment House Buying loan.
- Sign-on Bonus / Relocation allowance : This is a bonus payment to incoming residents made by some programs, though the practice is slowly reducing. For example, The JPS health Network Family Medicine Residency pays about 1,500$ to all new residents as relocation allowance.
- Retirement Benefits: Some programs may contribute a small percent of the gross pay to your retirement account
- Loan Forgiveness Programs : Increasing residencies like Family Medicine are offering to pay medical loans of incoming American Medical Grads to attract more freshers to primary care
- Extra stipend to the Chief Residents ..Though not all places do so.


D. Technology Perks

- The PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) , pretty much almost a standard for residents, to access medical information and patient information on the go
(A resident friend of mine lost his PDA and had to repay the Hospital 350$ to compensate)
- Free Computer / Internet access
- Laptops
- Beepers / Pagers


E. Convenience Perks

- Lab Coats with Free Washing Service
- Free Parking Space
- Free Gym Membership
- Jacuzzis, Spas and Massages from Hot Chics - kidding ..Jeez tell me you did not believe that last one !


Hmmmm....Probably the biggest universal perk that Residents in USA have recently received is the 80-Hour Per week work hour rule, and that might soon be lowered even more !



Also Check Out:

- Iserson's Getting Into a Residency: A Guide for Medical Students
- The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty
- USMLEtoMD.com : Simple and Lively USMLE - Residency Application Blogs
- Get Your Own PDA !



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