Institution-Specific Factors Associated With Family Medicine Residency Match Rates

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Workforce Research

Background:

• Little evidence exists on how medical school settings affect family medicine career choices.
• Students matching into family medicine are often grouped with internal medicine and pediatrics, obscuring institutional differences.
• Understanding these differences is crucial for addressing the projected shortage of family physicians.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine factors associated with family medicine residency match rates.
• To determine how these factors differ across public and private medical school settings.

Main Methods:

• Combined survey data from 123 family medicine departments with graduate placement rates.
• Utilized chi-square/Fisher's Exact tests, t tests, and linear regression analyses.
• Included data from 85% of U.S. medical schools with Family Medicine departments for 2011-2012 match rates.

Main Results:

• Public medical schools had higher family medicine match rates (11%) than private schools (7%).
• Smaller clerkship enrollments, longer clerkships (>3-4 weeks), and senior family medicine faculty leadership were associated with higher match rates.
• Private schools with community medicine electives showed 8% lower match rates.

Conclusions:

• Educational opportunities influencing family medicine match rates vary between public and private medical schools.
• Further research is needed to identify qualitative aspects of educational programming impacting match rates.
• Findings can inform strategies to mitigate physician shortages in primary care, particularly family medicine.