This year's U.S. medical residency match marked another record-high, as the first "Single Match" in history enlisted participation of all osteopathic and allopathic graduates,
Match Day 2020 received an all-time high of 40,084 total applicants for 37,256 residency slots, the NRMP said in a statement. This year's numbers increased from the 38,367 graduates that applied for 35,185 positions in 2019 -- the number of first-year positions (PGY-1) rising 6.4%.
Increased participation from osteopathic programs has pushed Match Day to record highs, the NRMP noted. More than 6,500 osteopathic graduates submitted program choices, increasing by more than 1,000 since 2019. Around 91% of osteopathic applicants were matched to PGY-1 programs.
"NRMP is proud to congratulate thousands of young physicians as they celebrate their transition to residency," Donna Lamb, DHSc, MBA, president of the NRMP, said in a . "We are especially excited that the 2020 Match marks a milestone for the medical education community: The first Single Match for U.S. MD and DO senior students and graduates and the inclusion of DO senior students as sponsored applicants."
The match marks a day when medical students are placed in residency programs, and find out where they will spend the next 3 to 7 years of their careers. The unified placement for all osteopathic (DO) and allopathic (MD) graduates follows the establishment of a single accreditation system in 2014. As of 2020, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is the primary accrediting institution for all graduate medical programs.
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This year, more than 17,000 PGY-1 positions -- approximately half of all available residency slots -- were in primary care programs. The number of available primary care positions rose by 7.4% from 2019.
The primary care specialty breakdown is as follows:
- Internal medicine programs offered almost 8,700 positions, filling more than 95%
- Family medicine offered 4,662 residency positions, filling approximately 93%
- Pediatrics offered 2,684 positions, filling 98%
ľֱ with more than 30 open positions that filled all of them included dermatology, medicine-emergency medicine, neurological surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, integrated plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery, and thoracic surgery.
Internal medicine, family medicine, primary pediatrics, and preliminary surgery had programs that filled less than 45% of positions with allopathic graduates.
The NRMP also noted that ob/gyn programs filled all but three of 1,433 open positions -- a fill rate of 99.8%. The group added that orthopedic surgery offered 849 first-year positions, a 12.4% increase from the year prior.
Applicants
This year, Match registrants reached a record high of 44,959. The number of U.S. MD seniors who submitted program choices topped 19,000, of whom around 94% matched to first-year positions.
More than 5,000 U.S. citizen international medical school graduates submitted program choices, and 61% matched to a first-year position. Non-U.S. citizen medical graduates increased slightly by 38 applicants, for the first time in 3 years.
The NRMP uses a computer algorithm to match applicants to residency programs. Applicants who do not match in a residency program participate in the NRMP Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program, also known as SOAP, to fill vacant positions. SOAP offered 1,897 positions for residency this year, and will announce results in early May.