The study -- Taking the pulse: Medical student workforce intentions and the impact of debt -- was published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today.
All fifth and sixth year students enrolled in medical schools were invited to take part in the study through a questionnaire in late 2008, but only 372 out of 681 students (55 percent) responded.
The study found student debt was a factor in where medical graduates would end up working, either in New Zealand or overseas.
Eighty-nine percent of respondents said they would graduate with debt, with the average expected debt $75,752.
Ninety-four percent of students planned to work overseas at some point, with 9 percent planning to leave the country immediately after graduating.
More than half (52 percent) planned to leave at the start of their second or third year after graduating.
Twenty-four percent planned to leave for more than five years -- 30 percent permanently.
The students were asked what would make them more likely to go overseas. Financial motivation was the most popular response (56 percent), followed by greater experience of lifestyle (46 percent), greater job prospects, training and educational opportunities (45 percent) and better working environments, conditions or support (21 percent).
Asked to provide reasons why they would locum, 154 students (42 percent) responded, with 84 percent choosing financial motivation.
Australia was the most popular destination, followed by Britain and Ireland.
Only a quarter of students thought they would be valued by hospital management (26 percent) and the government (25 percent).
Thirty-nine percent of students intended to work as locums.
The study's authors, Canterbury District Health Board medical officer William Perry and Otago University medical education associate dean Tim Wilkinson, said the loss of recent graduates was "of significant concern".
New Zealand was importing overseas-trained doctors and effectively exporting locally-trained doctors, they said.
Addressing debt and providing greater financial incentives could reduce the number of locums, who "currently absorb an alarming proportion of this country's medical workforce expenditure", the study said.
Measures to address debt, including the trainee intern grant, interest-free student loans and a voluntary bonding scheme, had been introduced in the past five years but there had been little work to address students' perceptions of working and training in New Zealand.
The study's authors said it was alarming that only a quarter of students thought they would be valued by hospital management or the government, and those who felt undervalued were more likely to opt for locum jobs.
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