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ASA NEWSLETTER
 
 
June 2007
Volume 71
Number 6

National Resident Matching Program Results for 2007:
Recruitment Maintains All-time High for Speciality of Anesthesiology

Armin Schubert, M.D., M.B.A., Chair
Committee on Physician Resources


The 15th Annual Report on National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) results for anesthesiology are now produced by the ASA Committee on Physician Resources after Alan W. Grogono, M.D., decided to pass on this responsibility. The committee would like to highlight Dr. Grogono’s unsurpassed commitment to excellence in documenting, summarizing and editing this information faithfully for ASA members for so many years.

NRMP Results [Table 1 and Figure 1]: This year a total of 1,286 were recruited via the Match, the same as in 2006. The level of Match recruiting into anesthesiology continues to be at an all-time high. The number of graduating U.S. allopathic seniors matching into anesthesiology declined slightly in 2007 [Table 1]. (In previous reports, U.S. allopathic graduating seniors are identified as “students.”) The average recruited in 2006 and 2007, however, is still approximately 13 percent higher than during 2002-05 [Figure 2]. Of all NRMP applicants, the proportion of U.S. allopathic graduating seniors attracted into anesthesiology was 6.7 percent, essentially maintaining recruitment from U.S. medical schools at the same level (6.9 percent) as in 2006 [Table 2].

Positions Offered and Unfilled [Tables 1 and 4]: With minor fluctuations, the total number of Match positions offered (PG-1 and CA-1) have increased steadily from 946 in 1996 to 1,169 in 2002, reflecting an approximately 4-percent annual growth in Match positions; since 2002, growth has slowed to about 3 percent annually with 1,338 Match positions offered this year. It should be noted that Match positions represented 47 percent of all available anesthesiology positions in 2006 [Table 4] compared with 53 percent in 2003, reflecting the progressive rise in Match recruiting from its low point in 1996 (324 matched) to a level nearly four times as high today.

The growth in positions offered at the PG-1 level in 2006 increased further by 23 to a total of 575. Concomitantly, CA-1 Match position offers continue to decline slightly from their 10-year high of 846 in 2004 to 763 in 2007. Unfilled Match positions (3.9 percent) remain near a historical low [Figure 3 and Table 1].

Sources of Recruits [Table 2 and Figure 2]: From 1996-2002, apart from U.S. allopathic seniors, Match recruitment of the other groups (osteopathic, international medical graduates, sponsored graduate and others) averaged 230 ± 37 (SD). During 2003-07, it reached a peak of 314, averaging 283 ± 27 [Table 3]. For the seventh year in a row, behind only U.S. allopathic graduates, osteopathic graduates contribute the greatest numbers to the anesthesiology Match; this year’s total of 105 maintains the 2006 level of 101. Among the other non-U.S. allopathic groups, there also is no change from 2006, with Match recruitment from international medical graduates applicants remaining low at 110 (U.S. and non-U.S.).

Comment: For three years (2003-05), the number of residents recruited into anesthesiology via the Match showed relatively minor changes in the overall numbers recruited (1,211, 1,200, 1,230). The increase to 1,287 in 2006 was sustained in 2007 at 1,286, as was the recruitment of senior U.S. medical students at the PG-1 level (451 in 2006 and 448 in 2007), while the overall number recruited into PG-1 Match positions rose modestly. Programs continue to offer more positions at the PG-1 level and slightly fewer at the CA-1 level. While there were a few more unfilled Match positions than last year, the overall vacancy rate remained low. The recruitment of U.S. medical students, however, declined slightly (by 22 students, or 2.3 percent), similar to the decline experienced in 2004, suggesting that a plateau is being reached.

Summary: The 15th annual report on NRMP results for anesthesiology shows little change in the pattern of recruitment from its all-time high last year, suggesting that Match recruitment may have reached a plateau. The number recruited into the PG-1 year continues to rise with a corresponding slight decline at the CA-1 level and with minimally fewer U.S. senior medical students recruited than last year.

Acknowledgments: We appreciate the assistance of Mr. Philip Szenas at the National Resident Matching Program in providing 2007 Match data. Dr. Grogono’s past NRMP articles in the NEWSLETTER have appeared in August 1993, May 1994, June 1995, May 1996, May 1997, May 1998, May 1999, May 2000, May 2001, May 2002, May 2003, May 2004, May 2005 and May 2006. We would like to express our appreciation to Eric Christiansen, M.B.A., and Tanya D. Smith, B.A., P.A. who assisted substantively with the collation of data and preparation of this report.

Committee on Physician Resources: Armin Schubert, M.D., M.B.A., Chair, Genie G. Blough, M.B.A., Michael W. Champeau, M.D., Daniel J. Cole, M.D., Gifford V. Eckhout, M.D., M.B.A., Kenneth J. Freese, M.D., Susan L. Goelzer, M.D., Alan W. Grogono, M.D., Joseph J. Kryc, M.D., Nagy A. Mekhail, M.D., Ph.D., David A. Nakata, M.D., Mary D. Peterson, M.D., Julia E. Pollock, M.D., Richard D. Urman, M.D., and James Viapiano, M.D.


Table 1: Match Results for Anesthesiology, 1990 - 2007 (click to enlarge)



Figure 1: Total Recruitment Into Anesthesiology via the NRMP, 1990 - 2007 (click to enlarge)



Table 2: U.S. Allopathic Graduating Seniors and Other Applicants Matching Into Anesthesiology Compared to the Total Number in the NRMP (click to enlarge)



Figure 2: U.S. Graduating Seniors and Other Applicants Matching Into Anesthesiology as Percent of Total Matched via NRMP, 1990 - 2007
(click to enlarge)



Table 3: Sources of the Match Into Anesthesiology, 1996–2007 (click to enlarge)



Figure 3: Graduating U.S. Seniors Recruited Into Anesthesiology via the NRMP, 1990 - 2007 (click to enlarge)




Figure 4: Anesthesiology Positions Recruited vs. Positions Available via the NRMP, 1990 - 2007 (click to enlarge)



Table 4: NRMP Recruitment and Total Number of Entry-Level Residency Positions, 2003 - 07



Figure 5: Source of Recruits Into Anesthesiology via the NRMP, 1996 - 2007




    Armin Schubert, M.D., M.B.A., is Professor and Chair, Department of General Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Lermer College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Alan W. Grogono, M.D.

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