Diminishing Returns: An Analysis of Surgeon Compensation in the Setting of Ever-Increasing Student Debt.

IF 3.8 2区医学 Q1 SURGERY

Journal of the American College of Surgeons Pub Date : 2025-08-01 Epub Date: 2025-07-16 DOI:10.1097/XCS.0000000000001257

Angela D Sickels, Katherine McElroy, Joshua Robinson, Herbert Chen, J Bart Rose

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: The knowledge required to manage surgical patients has expanded considerably during the past 40 years. Simultaneously, the cost of medical education has increased substantially. Surgical trainees are at a particular disadvantage due to the time demands of training. We aim to determine whether surgeon compensation over time has adequately accounted for increasing student debt burden.

Study design: We conducted a retrospective review of data on surgeon salaries and medical education debt from the Medical Group Management Association and Association of American Medical Colleges (2014 to 2019). Inflation adjustment was performed using the consumer price index calculator from the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Outcomes of interest included trends in debt, salaries, and the debt-to-income ratio.

Results: The median salary for a general surgeon in 1984 was $111,287, and median medical school debt was $22,000, corresponding to a salary of $274,900 and $54,344 in 2019, respectively, representing a 147% increase. The reported median salary for a general surgeon in 2019 was $350,000 (214.5% increase), and medical school debt was $200,000 (809% increase). The debt-to-income ratio increased from 0.2 in 1984 to 0.57 in 2012 and has remained stable since that time. Direct comparison of loan burden and salary reveals that although medical school debt has increased by 268% in the past 40 years, surgeon salaries have increased as well, but not nearly to the same degree (27.3%).

Conclusions: The rate of debt accumulation has outpaced the rate of salary growth for general surgeons to a significant degree.

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收益递减：在不断增加的学生债务背景下外科医生报酬分析。

背景：在过去的40年里，管理外科病人所需的知识已经大大扩展。与此同时，医学教育的费用大幅增加。由于培训的时间要求，外科培训生处于特别不利的地位。我们的目的是确定外科医生的报酬是否已经充分考虑到学生债务负担的增加。研究设计：我们对医疗集团管理协会和美国医学院协会（2014-2019）的外科医生工资和医学教育债务数据进行了回顾性分析。通货膨胀调整是使用美国劳工和统计局的消费者价格指数计算器进行的。利息的结果包括债务、工资和债务收入比的趋势。结果：1984年普通外科医生的工资中位数为111,287美元，医学院债务中位数为22,000美元，相当于2019年的工资分别为274,900美元和54,344美元，增长了147%。据报道，2019年普通外科医生的工资中位数为35万美元（增长214.5%），医学院债务为20万美元（增长809%）。债务收入比从1984年的0.2上升到2012年的0.57，此后一直保持稳定。贷款负担和工资的直接比较显示，在过去40年里，医学院的债务增加了268%，外科医生的工资也增加了，但幅度相差不大（27.3%）。结论：普通外科医生的债务积累速度明显超过了工资增长速度。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of the American College of Surgeons 医学-外科

CiteScore

6.90

自引率

5.80%

发文量

1515

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS) is a monthly journal publishing peer-reviewed original contributions on all aspects of surgery. These contributions include, but are not limited to, original clinical studies, review articles, and experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance. In general, case reports are not considered for publication. As the official scientific journal of the American College of Surgeons, JACS has the goal of providing its readership the highest quality rapid retrieval of information relevant to surgeons.