Family medicine helped to make the 2018 Main Residency Match the largest ever as the specialty increased residency slots by 8% and accepted 9% more applicants, compared with 2017, according to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).
Family medicine brought 3,629 PGY-1 positions to the Match Day table this year and filled 44.9% of them with U.S. graduates and 96.7% of them overall. “The number of U.S. allopathic seniors matching to family medicine has increased every year” since 2009, the NRMP reported. For all specialties, U.S. graduates filled 58.7% of the record-high 30,232 available spots, and the overall fill rate was 96.1%.
The 2018 Match also set new highs for total positions offered (up 4.4% over last year), total positions and PGY-1 positions filled (up 4.7% and 4.9%, respectively), and total applicants (up 1.7%). “The results of the Match are closely watched because they can be predictors of future physician workforce supply. There also is significant interest in the competitiveness of specialties, as measured by the percentage of positions filled overall and the percentage filled by senior students in U.S. allopathic medical schools,” the NRMP said.
