In this episode, our hosts Andy and John are joined by our guests Geoff Comp and Megan Stobart-Gallagher to discuss what the heck happened in the 2023 Match.
Recap of what happened:
- During the Match of 2023 cycle, 555 emergency medicine residency spots in 129 programs went unfilled.
- This is an increase from last year, where 219 spots at around 50 programs went unfilled.
Perspective from programs that did not fill their spots:
- Initial reaction
- Megan saw a decrease in applications, so her program tried to increase the number of interviews and conduct a more comprehensive review of applicants.
- After taking time to reflect, John realized some positives that came out of this situation.
- He had the support of other programs as well as an incredible team of residents, program coordinators, and faculty, within his program, who all stepped up to fill the unfilled spots.
- There were excellent quality, highly-competitive applicants that SOAPed into the unfilled spots.
Why did this happen and what can we change?
- Aside from the workforce study, the overall decrease in applicants, and other global factors, we must focus on the opportunities on a local level.
- We must focus on better advising and mentoring our students.
- Medical schools do not always have EM-specific advisors.
- Many students are being dissuaded from entering the field by advisors that aren’t in academic EM and don’t provide a practical view of the pros and cons of EM.
- Increasing the number of ranked applicants compared to previous years could be helpful, but can be challenging to conduct more interviews when EM faculty have such unpredictable schedules.
- While there are definite benefits to virtual interviews, it is easier to cancel last minute
- Medical students, please don’t cancel last minute. It is unfair to your fellow applicants and future colleagues.
- Some recruitment tactics by programs can potentially hurt other programs that don’t have as much money to spend on recruitment.
- While there are definite benefits to virtual interviews, it is easier to cancel last minute
- We must focus on better advising and mentoring our students.
What do we do next?
- We need to take a moment.
- You can’t attribute the results to a single factor, as there are multiple factors involved.
- Now is not the time to be reactive and definitively attribute the match results to a single cause.
- Now is the time to listen, especially to students, about what factors or perceptions are causing them to steer away from applying to EM.
- Have realistic discussions about the positives and downsides of the specialty.
- Recognize that there may be some negatives to your job that may be specific to your job and can’t be attributed to the field of EM as a whole.
- Don’t lose sight of the positives of our specialty.
- Mentorship
- Have conversations with students about what your job is really like.
- Offer to give lectures to emergency medicine interest groups.
- The infighting amongst the major EM organizations is not a good look for our specialty in the house of medicine and may deter prospective applicants.
- Regardless of where things ended for you, let’s take a collective deep breath.
- We did the best we could with the circumstances we had.
- Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Post by Jordan Palmer, OMS-III
About Our Guests:
Geoff Comp DO is a long-time friend and multi-episode guest of the show. He is currently the Assistant Program Director at Creighton UniversitySOM/Valleywise Health Medical Center Emergency Medicine Residency.
Megan Stobart-Gallagher DO is currently the Program Director at Einstein Montgomery’s Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
References:
- https://epmonthly.com/article/2023-match-leads-to-heated-opinions/
- https://www.emra.org/be-involved/be-an-advocate/working-for-you/2023-match-statement/
- https://www.acep.org/news/acep-newsroom-articles/joint-statement-match-2023/
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