FAMILY MEDICINE AS CAREER CHOICE INCREASING
Medical school graduates are choosing Family Medicine as a career in record numbers. For 12 years in a row, Family Medicine has grown in popularity, and for 10 consecutive years, the number of students choosing Family Medicine residencies has set “all-time record(s).”
As I reported in March of last year, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) has annually filled more and more Family Medicine residency slots with graduates wanting to practice the specialty. Fourth year medical students learn of their future plans on “Match Day.” This year it was on March 18th when these students learned if their choice matched with the students chosen by the residency program. This year there were nearly 100 more positions available than last year, bringing the total number of residency slots to over 4900. This year, 4470 4th-year students matched into 4934 Family Medicine residency positions for a fill rate of 90.6%.
The good news here is there is a significant increase in the number of positions available to train Family Physicians for practice AND a significant number of medical school graduates are still choosing Family Medicine as a career. Although this year’s class of residents will have 23 fewer students, those unfilled slots are very likely to be filled by a “supplemental match.” Last year, 98% of the unfilled residency positions were filled by the later match. The total filled residency positions will likely be close to 100%.
The demographic break down of graduates choosing Family Medicine residencies is as follows:
36% were graduates of U.S. MEDICAL SCHOOLS
35% were graduates of U.S. OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL SCHOOLS
29% were graduates of INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOLS
89% were United States CITIZENS
“AAFP President Sterling Ransone, MD,…..called Family Physicians the backbone of care for patients of all ages, and genders…..We congratulate and applaud each of the students who matched into Family Medicine this year, a specialty that is critical to protecting public health. Primary care is more important than ever, and we commend every student who has chosen to practice in this profession.”
AMEN!
