Factors Associated with Matching into Surgical Specialties

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Specialties
• Residency Matching

Background:

• Understanding medical student specialty choice is crucial for the US medical education system.
• Factors influencing the selection of surgical specialties require investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify demographic, educational, lifestyle, and other factors associated with matching into surgical specialties.
• To analyze the predictors of surgical specialty selection among medical students.

Main Methods:

• Annual surveys administered to medical students at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine (2013-2019).
• Data collected from 374 participants across five time points: M1, M2, M3, M4 years, and post-residency match.
• Logistic regression analysis employed to determine associations between various factors and surgical specialty match likelihood.

Main Results:

• Exposure to surgery via family (aOR=3.21), mentorship (aOR=2.78), or research (aOR=2.96) significantly increased the likelihood of matching into a surgical specialty.
• Married students were less likely to pursue surgical specialties (aOR=0.246).
• White students interested in surgery early in medical school had a higher likelihood of matching (aOR=6.472) compared to non-White students (aOR=0.155).

Conclusions:

• Surgical mentors, research experience, and family history in surgery positively correlate with matching into surgical fields.
• Early interest in surgery combined with Caucasian ethnicity is associated with higher match rates.
• Marriage, particularly without children, is linked to a decreased likelihood of entering surgical specialties.