From Residency to Specialization: A Critical Analysis of Residency Leadership and Impact on Specialty Selection

Orthopedic surgery fellowships have evolved from optional to nearly mandatory since accreditation in 1981, yet factors influencing subspecialty selection remain incompletely defined. We evaluated orthopedic residency program director (PD) and department chair demographics and training backgrounds, resident fellowship match patterns, fellowship availability, and concordance between leadership training and resident subspecialty selection.

Using programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, we analyzed available PD and department chair demographics and fellowship training. Five years of alumni fellowship data and fellowship availability at each institution were collected from program websites. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests, and crude odds ratios (ORs) were used, with P < .05 considered significant.

Among 109 residency programs and 5,443 recent graduates, residents most often matched into sports medicine (24.44%), arthroplasty (17.86%), and hand surgery (16.57%). PDs were most commonly trained in trauma, sports medicine, and hand surgery; chairs were most commonly trained in sports medicine, trauma, and spine surgery. Leadership was predominantly male and White (PDs: 87.16% male, 78.90% White; chairs: 93.58% male, 88.07% White). Programs offering spine, hand, or orthopedic oncology fellowships had higher match rates into those specialties than programs without them (OR: 1.20, 1.42, and 1.94; all P < .05). Residents were also more likely to enter arthroplasty when their PD was arthroplasty trained and to enter hand surgery or orthopedic oncology when their chair had concordant training.

Fellowship availability and leadership training background were each associated with resident subspecialty selection. Applicants with subspecialty interests should consider both factors when evaluating residency programs.