Verstappen Antonia, Poole Phillippa
Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland.
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland.
N Z Med J. 2017 Jun 16;130(1457):38-44.
There is little recent data on the debt levels accrued by New Zealand medical graduates. We aimed to quantify the level of student loan debt accrued by medical graduates upon completion of their medical degree, and to investigate the association of New Zealand Government Student Loan (GSL) debt with gender and age.
At graduation each year from 2006-2015, students from one New Zealand medical programme were invited to complete a career intention survey that included information on levels of GSL debt and the number of income sources used.
The overall response rate was 83.8%. On average, 92% of domestic students reported having some student loan debt, with 28% a debt of $90,000 or more. The proportion of students reporting a student loan debt of $90,000 or more increased over the period of the study (P<0.0001). While older students were more likely to have a larger student loan debt than younger students, there was no difference in debt levels by gender. Students with larger student loans were more likely to rely on a larger number of financial sources to fund their studies.
New Zealand medical students are carrying higher levels of student loan debt year on year. The effect of this on the future medical workforce is not certain; however, this could be negative if graduates choose to enter careers that are more highly paid over areas of high need. The full impact of large loans on individuals and the health system will take years to determine.
目前关于新西兰医学毕业生累积债务水平的近期数据较少。我们旨在量化医学毕业生完成医学学位后累积的学生贷款债务水平，并调查新西兰政府学生贷款（GSL）债务与性别和年龄之间的关联。
在2006年至2015年每年毕业时，邀请来自新西兰一个医学项目的学生完成一项职业意向调查，该调查包括有关GSL债务水平和所使用收入来源数量的信息。
总体回复率为83.8%。平均而言，92%的国内学生报告有一些学生贷款债务，其中28%的债务为9万新西兰元或更多。在研究期间，报告学生贷款债务为9万新西兰元或更多的学生比例有所增加（P<0.0001）。虽然年龄较大的学生比年龄较小的学生更有可能有较大的学生贷款债务，但债务水平在性别上没有差异。学生贷款数额较大的学生更有可能依靠更多的资金来源来资助他们的学业。
新西兰医学生的学生贷款债务逐年增加。这对未来医疗劳动力的影响尚不确定；然而，如果毕业生选择进入高薪职业而非高需求领域，可能会产生负面影响。大额贷款对个人和卫生系统的全面影响需要数年时间才能确定。
