2011 Match info

[DCJenn]

From an email we just got from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration- our Federal funders)

Contact: Lesley Ward
202-828-0655
lward@aamc.org
Embargoed for release until 1:00 PM EDT, March 17, 2011:

FOR SECOND YEAR, MORE U.S. MEDICAL SCHOOL SENIORS MATCH TO PRIMARY CARE RESIDENCIES

Washington, D.C., March 17, 2010— For the second year in a row, more U.S. medical school seniors will train as family medicine residents, according to new data released today by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). The number of U.S. seniors matched to family medicine positions rose by 11 percent over 2010. In Match Day ceremonies across the country today, these individuals will be among more than 16,000 U.S. medical school seniors who will learn where they are going to spend the next three to seven years of residency training.

Among primary care specialties, family medicine programs continued to experience the strongest growth in the number of positions filled by U.S. seniors. In this year’s Match, U.S. seniors filled nearly half of the 2,708 family medicine residency slots. Family medicine also offered 100 more positions this year. The two other primary care specialties that increased in popularity among U.S. seniors were pediatrics and internal medicine. U.S. seniors matched to 1,768 of the 2,482 pediatric positions offered, a 3 percent increase over 2010. In internal medicine, U.S. seniors filled 2, 940 of 5,121 positions, an 8 percent increase over last year.

In addition to primary care, other specialties that increased the number of residency positions filled by U.S. seniors in this year’s Match included emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and neurology. For the first time, the total number of positions in the Match exceeded 26,000. Overall, U.S. seniors’ participation in the Match also increased with 16,559 applicants—489 more than 2010. The number of U.S. citizens who attended international medical schools (USIMGs) increased again this year, with 50 percent of the 3,769 registrants matching to positions. In contrast, the number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who registered for the Match declined for the second year in a row, down 587 from 2010. Despite the change, 41 percent matched to positions—a slight increase from 2010.

Positions
The 2011 Match offered a 23,421 first-year and 2,737 second-year residency positions—638 more positions overall. More than 95 percent (22,386) of the first-year positions were filled. “We were pleased that this year’s Match was able to offer more positions. There will no doubt be wonderful cause for celebration at the nation’s medical schools today and for all participants as they experience this defining moment in their careers as physicians,” said Mona M. Signer, executive director of the NRMP.

Participants
According to the NRMP, the number of applicants in this year’s Match also increased, with a total of 37,735 applicants participating—179 more than in 2010.
Other participants in the 2011 Match included: 2,178 students and graduates of osteopathic (D.O. degree-granting) schools—an increase of 133 over 2010
3,769 U.S. citizens and students from international medical schools—74 more individuals over 2010

Match Rate
This was the first year that the number of successful matches for U.S. seniors exceeded 15,000. Slightly more than 94 percent of U.S. medical school seniors matched to a first-year residency position this year; 81 percent of those students matched to one of their top three choices. Among all other types of participants, 80 percent matched to one of their top three choices.

Specialty Trends
Match results can be an indicator of career interests among U.S. medical school seniors. Among the notable trends this year:
Dermatology, orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, radiation oncology, thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery were the most competitive fields for applicants. At least 90 percent of those positions were filled by U.S. medical school seniors. The number of U.S. medical school seniors in emergency medicine increased by 7percent and grew for the sixth year in a row, as they filled 1,268 of the 1,607 first-year
positions available. Anesthesiology offered 44 more positions and matched 45 more U.S. seniors who filled 671 positions of the 841 offered.

Couples in the Match
There were 809 couples in the Match this year. Participants who enter the Match as a couple agree to have their rank order lists of preferred residency programs linked to each other to ensure that they match to programs within the same geographic area, for instance. This year, 739 couples both matched to their respective residency program preferences. A couple is defined by the NRMP as any two applicants—regardless of the nature of their relationship—who participate in the Match as partners.

How the Match Works
Conducted annually by the NRMP, the Match uses a computerized mathematical algorithm to align the
preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency programs in order to fill the residency training
positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals.

To hear an audio podcast interview with NRMP Executive Director Mona Signer, watch videos of
medical school Match Day ceremonies, and for additional data and resources, visit www.nrmp.org after
1:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 17.
# # #
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) is a private, not-for-profit organization established in
1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences
of applicants to U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors for those
applicants. The NRMP is sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American
Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Hospital Association,
and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.

[diggitydot]

Am I the only who thinks referring to a 4th year med student as a "senior" is weird? I've never heard them referred to this way.

[Auspicious]

So how much of that increase in residency spots is in response to projected physician shortage, and how much is in response to change in intern work hour rules for next year? With a spouse in a field with oversupply I just cringe at seeing any increase in residency spots anywhere, but obviously that's filtered through my own trauma. It's great to have an extra chance to land a spot for PGY1, but I don't see how increase in physician supply can do anything but hurt you when your class hits the job market. But primary care is still facing shortage, right?

[DCJenn]

Well, the two specialties that I'm most familiar with- psychiatry (work) and neurology (home) are facing drastic shortages. We're hiring 80 year old retired psychiatrists as locum tenans because we can't fill our psych jobs. One of our newest docs graduated from medical school in 1960. That was the year my 69 year old dad graduated from high school.

J.

[oceanchild]

DH's program definitely increased spots in response to the new work hour rules. And my understanding is that there are still pediatrician shortages, both for generalists and for many pediatric subspecialists.

[Deebs]

EM is predicted to have a shortage until 2025 IF no one currently practicing dies or retires, and match rates continue to trend upward. In addition, there are still many non-board certified and alternative board certified docs working in EDs because of the shortage. The goal will be to eventually have all board certified physicians and enough docs to cover the need. Basically, there will be a shortage for well beyond the next 20 years.

[MDPhDWife]

I'm curious about how the stats for I.M. positions are calculated. Are they only calculating catagorical spots? If they're including prelim spots in that statistic, then that would paint an inaccurate picture about primary care specialties being more popular.

[MissCrabette]

In internal medicine, U.S. seniors filled 2, 940 of 5,121 positions, an 8 percent increase over last year.

If you're looking at that, then yes, those are most likely categorical spots. I say that because thery're very similar to last year's numbers for categorical IM, although I didn't actually calculate to see if it's exactly an 8 percent increase.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2010.pdf (Table 1, page 3)

What these numbers fail to show are pre-matches. While programs offered 5121 positions during this years match, there are many more positions that were filled outside the match. For example, there was one program Andrew applied to that had 10 positions per year and only filled 2 through the regular match. The other 8 were filled long before.

[scarlett09]

DH's program definitely increased spots in response to the new work hour rules. And my understanding is that there are still pediatrician shortages, both for generalists and for many pediatric subspecialists.

This was also the case at DH's program. There will be two more PL-1s next year, which were needed for both the new work hour rules and because they have had to add another service due to the inpatient floors being constantly full. They are expanding the hospital, but not increasing the number of inpatient beds. Go figure.

The stats are really interesting Jenn, thanks for sharing!

[Cinderella]

the number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who registered for the Match declined for the second year in a row, down 587 from 2010. Despite the change, 41 percent matched to positions—a slight increase from 2010.

From this I understand that less IMG's are applying for the second year in a row and out of those that do apply less than half are matched. Thanks for the info, dh was just asking me if I'd seen any statistics yet on the IMG matches.

I also found on their website that the NRMP is considering stopping prematches for all IMG's to make the process more fair. It says this is the second time they're looking at changing it. If this is adopted this time I'm unsure how this will affect my SIL's prematch offer after she is supposed to finish her PhD.

I guess for them it would be another consideration for deciding to stay or not. They were told because of the level of their experience and education they wouldn't have to repeat a residency but rather go straight to a fellowship. That's why I was initially confused when I learned that here a residency has to be done before a fellowship and it wasn't one or the other. Then I wondered maybe that's the process for medical graduates from here.

They've both already done residency's a long time ago. One already has 6 years experience practicing medicine and is finishing their PhD here in Cardiology while the other has double the experience practicing medicine, with two private clinics one specifically for pediatrics orthopedics, and a PhD from here as well in orthopedic medicine. For their careers it doesn't make sense to start from the beginning again and repeat a residency so it's not very attractive to stay if they have to do that, but the offer to go directly to a fellowship instead seemed somewhat attractive. I think it's a little different for these kinds of IMG's vs. the fresher IMG's like my husband. My husband doesn't have his Masters or PhD and has been practicing medicine a few years so it makes sense to go through the match and start with a residency here.

[PrincessFiona]

Unfortunately, IMG's do have to repeat residency. This is done to assure quality. Medical training in other countries is different and it's an attempt at quality control. My dh did nearly 3 years in Europe and the quality was as good in his opinion. He didn't see a difference ... But the years did not count. One of his good friends was a rheumatologist in the UK. He came to the US and had to start over as well. He is now at Harvard as a rheumatologist after retraining here.
The problem is that some countries have lower standards. We have a doc here from Romania who redid her family medicine residency but just lost hospital privileges because she is so ... bad. It took her multiple attempts to pass her Steps and she had a lot of trouble getting through residency the second time here.

Kris

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MissCrabette]

The problem is that some countries have lower standards. We have a doc here from Romania who redid her family medicine residency but just lost hospital privileges because she is so ... bad. It took her multiple attempts to pass her Steps and she had a lot of trouble getting through residency the second time here.

It's not that the standards are low. It's that there are ways to circumvent them, and it's become part of the culture. People "buy" their exams, and it's gotten to the point that even someone who genuinely knows the material is forced to pay up just to ensure that an entitled professor won't fail him/her.

[Michele]

I hear that Shreveport is IMG friendly. One of the Ophtho residents was an ophthalmologist in Russia before she came here for training. She did a research fellowship in the US and then did an Ophtho residency in the US.

So you can get a US fellowship before a US residency in some instances. I think it might be limited to fields that don't have separate fellowship board certification. Like in Ophtho, you can specialize in Retina or Cornea or Glaucoma, but there isn't a separate certifying exam or extra letters after your name.

[Cinderella]

I asked about it last night and it sounds like a research fellowship back east in her specialty of cardiology that she was offered because she's been working with the team for the last year and a half for her PhD. They want her to continue with what they're working on and finish it up with them. She was also offered to be a peer reviewer for the medical journals here. They think she will have to redo her Internal Medicine residency after the fellowship though if she wants to continue a career here. So I guess for IMG's it can go this way sometimes with a fellowship first and then a repeat residency.