Match Day 2018: Internal medicine increases positions, matches

Internal medicine helped to make the 2018 Main Residency Match the largest ever as the specialty offered and filled about 4% more residency slots than in 2017, according to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).

Internal medicine brought 7,542 PGY-1 positions – more than any other specialty – to the Match Day party this year and filled 44.9% of them with U.S. graduates and 96.7% overall. Despite the increase in IM residency slots, however, the number and percentage of U.S. seniors matching declined, as it has done each year since 2015. 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 NRMP said in its 2018 Main Residency Match report.

The 2018 Match also set new highs for total positions offered (up 4.4% over last year), total (up 4.7%) and PGY-1 positions (up 4.9%) filled, 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.

rfranki@frontlinemedcom.com