Today, during a ceremony known as “Match Day,” graduating students at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, along with all U.S. medical school graduating students, learned where they would perform their residencies. Every fourth year medical student at OHSU who applied for a residency position matched to an open position.
Nationwide, 94 percent of 28,737 applicants initially matched to an open position, according to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).
The Match Day program utilizes a computer algorithm to place applicants in the thousands of open positions at U.S. hospitals. The algorithm takes into account the preferences of both the applicant and individual hospitals when determining matches. According to the NRMP, 59.9 percent of U.S. fourth year medical students matched to their first choice for residency.
Medical school graduates at OHSU continued to buck national trends by selecting primary care residencies, such as family medicine and pediatrics, above and beyond their national counterparts. The need for primary care physicians continues to grow as community providers around the country are aging, with few new providers replacing them. Forty-five percent of OHSU’s medical school seniors will enter a residency that provides primary care. In particular, family medicine residencies were a destination for 12.7 percent of OHSU match applicants, compared to 7.6 percent of match applicants nationally.
OHSU’s graduate medical education program also had a successful match day. All 146 open positions were filled.
Of OHSU’s 102 graduating medical students who applied for a residency, 36 of them will remain in Oregon, a strong indicator that these future physicians will also establish their practice in Oregon. Of those who will remain in Oregon, 27 matched to residencies at OHSU.
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is the state’s only health and research university, and Oregon’s only academic health center. OHSU is Portland's largest employer and the fourth largest in Oregon (excluding government), with 12,400 employees. OHSU's size contributes to its ability to provide many services and community support activities not found anywhere else in the state. It serves patients from every corner of the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400 students and trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach programs that bring health and education services to every county in the state.
About NRMP
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) is a private, not-for-profit organization established in 1952 to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences of applicants to U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors for those applicants. The NRMP is sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Hospital Association, and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.