The Prevalence and Distribution of Osteopathic Chief Residents in Emergency Medicine

Background The chief resident position fulfills important administrative and educational functions for emergency medicine (EM) residency programs and has been associated with advanced academic and career opportunities. This study seeks to determine the prevalence and distribution of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) and allopathic Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degrees among chief residents within EM residencies. Methodology EM residency program websites, affiliated social media accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and program coordinator surveys were used to collect data, including the number of current residents, chief residents, and the listed medical degrees for residents and program directors during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years. A Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare the number of residents, chief residents, and program directors by medical degree. Results A total of 188/229 (82.1%) and 201/229 (87.8%) eligible EM residencies identified their current chief residents and the medical degrees of their residents for the academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, respectively. Of 14,487 EM residents included during the study period, 3,676 (25.4%) were D.O.s, and of the 1,230 chief residents identified, 362 (29.4%) were D.O.s. Conclusions The proportion of D.O. chief residents was higher than the proportion of D.O. residents within EM residencies. However, osteopathic residents were asymmetrically distributed across programs and were most likely to serve as chief residents at programs with a higher proportion of D.O. trainees and at programs with osteopathic program directors.