Who Benefits? An Assessment of Resident Benefits at Top 50 Academic Institutions

•Residents receive different benefits than other full-time employees at their institutions.•Residents more commonly receive benefits with immediate benefits like parking and gym benefits.•Full time employees more commonly receive more expensive benefits that provide financial security including retirement benefits, tuition assistance, and flexible spending accounts. Residency serves as a crucial time in the professional and personal development of young physicians. Extensive effort is devoted to the clinical training of residents across the country. However, many residents report concerns with compensation, quality of life, and benefits during their clinical training. We sought to evaluate the benefits packages of resident physicians in comparison with other full-time employees at their institutions. “Top 50” Residency programs in Medicine, Surgery, and Pediatrics in the United States. To accomplish this task we selected the, “Top-50,” institutions for medicine, pediatrics, and surgery using Doximity's Residency Navigator and compared the benefits of residents at these institutions with full-time employees by accessing benefits offerings listed on institutional websites. We found that residents were more likely to receive parking benefits and gym memberships, while full-time employees were more likely to be offered flexible spending accounts, retirement benefits, and tuition support. Residents receive different benefits packages than their colleagues employed in full time positions at the same institutions. Further discussion regarding the benefits offered to physicians, and the role that benefits play in resident wellbeing is warranted in light of these findings.