Quantitative vs. Qualitative Residency Match / NRMP

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Residency Match/NRMP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUynulWye3E&t=33s

The problem is NOT just that there are not enough residency positions currently available in the US today.  The travesty is that many of those unmatched doctors will not match in the next few years either, and will have to quit Medicine!  Yes Quit!  Just think about the utter waste of time, talent, money, and DOCTORS.

Over 8,640 doctor graduates nationally did not match into a residency on Mar.18^th of this year.* One might think that they can just re-apply next year and all will be well.  Unfortunately, a majority of these doctors will probably never match before their credentials have to be renewed, and their training will be for naught.

These doctors will not match in succeeding years due to the compounding affect of prior years’ candidates re-applying the next year, but more importantly due to the unique situation of having their application being “selectively ignored”. 

The number of applications received by each residency has increased exponentially.   Brandon Regional Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program received over 900 applications for 20 positions before the residency had even begun!  Blake Memorial Hospital in Bradenton received more than 1000 applications for 15 positions and it just began this July!  All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg received 1,400 applicants for 12 slots.

 No administrative assistant has the time to read through 1,000 applications looking for “redeeming qualities” of lower scoring but fully qualified candidates.  The programs will have to rely upon a computer screening using common benchmarks, like Step 2 scores, to reduce the number of applications they review.  So the top ranked candidates will be selected quantitatively versus qualitatively, and the lower scoring candidates will continue to be “selectively ignored” repeatedly and fall into a “limbo”.

* Pages7-12, http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2016.pdf
http://nomatchmds.blogspot.com/