Residents as Patients: Assessing Adherence and Barriers to Recommended Health Maintenance Visits

Despite research suggesting that resident physicians frequently struggle to prioritize their own health and well-being, little is known about their personal healthcare behaviors. This study aims to quantify preventive healthcare utilization and assess the barriers and facilitators to care-seeking among resident physicians. A 22-question survey was electronically distributed to 110 ACGME-accredited residency programs across different specialties across the United States. Quantitative data were analyzed using STATA, and qualitative data were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis to identify barriers to healthcare utilization.Of 356 survey respondents, 316 residents (88.8%) provided complete responses from 18 specialties representing 27 unique states. While 87% reported attending at least one medical visit during residency, 13% did not access any primary care, dental, vision, mental, or OB/GYN-related healthcare. On average, out of 5 healthcare maintenance recommendations, residents met 1.78 recommendations (SD = 1.17). Respondents cited multiple barriers to routine health maintenance visits, including lack of free time during business hours and negative feelings about burdening fellow residents when taking time off. Resident physicians demonstrated suboptimal adherence to recommended utilization of five preventive healthcare domains. Residency programs can mitigate these barriers through scheduling flexibility, protected time, and institutional incentives for healthcare utilization.