Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 19;8(3):e257-e261.
doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1755621. eCollection 2022 Jul.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Match

Cees T Whisonant  1 , Shawhin R K Shahriari  2 , Casey McDonald  1 , Tyler Hough  1 , Amanda C Ederle  3 , Gregory L Borah  2
Affiliations

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Match

Cees T Whisonant et al. Surg J (N Y). .

Abstract

Introduction Matching into an orthopaedic surgery residency program presents a challenging accomplishment for applicants to achieve in any given year. Due to the profound changes to the application process caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic it was theorized that there would be a change in the number of graduates matching close to their home medical school region, state, and program. Methods Orthopaedic surgery residency program Web sites and social media accounts were accessed to elucidate current resident data, including graduates' medical school, and geographical location of their school. Chi-square analysis was performed to identify trends in current residents matching within their home program, state, and region associated with the 2021 orthopaedic match. These numbers were compared with previous year's successful applicants. Results In 2021, a significant 4.4% ( p =0.02) increase in successful matches within applicants' home states occurred (33.4% vs. 37.8%) and home programs ( p <0.001) when compared with previous years (21.2% vs. 27.4%). However, in 2021, there was no significant change in home region matching ( p =0.56) with 60% of successful matches occurring in home regions. This was statistically consistent with what was observed in previous years (61.4%). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with restrictions in travel and interview options resulting in a significant increase in the number of orthopaedic applicants who matched into their home program, or at programs in their home state compared with previous years. Although no statistically significant regional change occurred during the 2021 match, it remains the leading predictor of where successful applicants will match. With many unknowns related to the upcoming match cycles it is important for applicants and programs to have a general idea of recent trends and outcomes to best focus their efforts, especially if diversity and minority inclusion are considered in highly competitive specialties like orthopaedic surgery.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; graduate medical education; orthopaedic surgery; residency; the match.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The effect of residency region on the percent of home program, state, and regional matching between 2017 and 2020 versus 2021. P, Program; S, State; R, Region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Statistics E RAS.Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)Available at:https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/interactive-data/eras-statistics-data
    1. Trikha R, Keswani A, Ishmael C R, Greig D, Kelley B V, Bernthal N M. Current trends in orthopaedic surgery residency applications and match rates. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2020;102(06):e24. - PubMed
    1. Rivero S, Ippolito J, Martinez M, Beebe K, Benevenia J, Berberian W. Analysis of unmatched orthopaedic residency applicants: options after the match. J Grad Med Educ. 2016;8(01):91–95. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Program Results . 2017–2021. National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). Accessed June 30, 2021 at:https://www.nrmp.org/main-residency-match-data
    1. DePasse J M, Palumbo M A, Eberson C P, Daniels A H. Academic characteristics of orthopaedic surgery residency applicants from 2007 to 2014. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2016;98(09):788–795. - PubMed