Residency ready: MD students celebrate the next stage of their careers

OHSU medical students and their families take photos and enjoy after the students learn where they will be heading for the next phase of their careers on Friday, March 17, 2023. OHSU’s 2023 Game Day percentage was 100 percent. This means that every medical student has a residence. (OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks)

Aided by a lucky charm, on this sunny St. Patrick’s Day, the 165 members of the OHSU School of Medicine’s MD Class of 2023 attending the game awaited their professional destinies with nervous anticipation.

At Oregon Health & Science University and every other medical school in the United States, today is Match Day, the much-anticipated event where most fourth-year medical students learn where their futures as doctors will lead them. This is an annual event where students find out where they will continue their studies as medical residents after they graduate in the spring.

The students greeted each other with a hug. They took coffee mugs. They were huddled together as the lobby of the Robertson Life Sciences Building filled with family, friends, faculty and staff.

Directed by MD Assistant Deans of Student Affairs Benjamin Schneider, MD, and Rebecca Cantone, MDThe 2023 Game Day ceremony began around 8:25 a.m. with recognition of the local towns on which OHSU is built.

“Land recognition allows an organization to recognize how its founding has affected the Native American tribes in the area, because of the injustices that many tribes face,” he said. Maya Singh Sharkey, a member of the MD Class of 2026, current secretary of the OHSU chapter of the Native American Medical Student Association, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. “We want to thank OHSU not only for recognizing this incident, but for the actions they are taking to support the Native American community.”

Schneider’s remarks underscored the complex path soon facing resident physicians: “Medical education is a transformative experience. Each individual’s career in medicine is unique, but there are common milestones. Some are joyful, like the first time you give birth to a baby. Some are heartbreaking, like the first time you have to deliver devastating news. Today’s milestone, Match Day, is a moment to reflect on what has been achieved and look to the next phase of training.’

During his closing remarks, Canton brought the students full circle, recalling the white coat ceremony at the beginning of their medical school journey: “For the past four years, each of you has worked to become the doctor you came here to become. Wherever you continue to train, you are that much closer to that dream. than when you wore that crisp white coat today.”

Envelope, please

At 9:00 a.m. Pacific time, students opened their match envelopes, following a long-standing tradition that rolled out at the exact same time at medical schools across the country.

Cheers, shouts of joy, and tears of gratitude and relief broke out across the room. Family and friends hugged to congratulate the students.

Students participating in the Luck of the Irish game posted a 100% match rate, with all 165 eligible students matched with a residency program.

Students were matched across 28 majors in 32 different states, with 36% of students joining Oregon institutions.

That’s good news for Oregon’s physician workforce. More than 70% of doctors who have completed medical school and residency training in Oregon have been practicing in Oregon, according to the latest. medical personnel data Courtesy of the Association of American Medical Schools.

Half of the matched students—44 percent—are entering primary care specialties, including internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics.

Match Day algorithm

To connect students with their chosen residential program, National resident matching programor NRMP, uses a mathematical algorithm to place applicants in residency and fellowship positions in the programs they also prefer.

how is it

Training programs create a ranking list of desired applicants. Applicants create a ranking list of the training programs they want. The match is determined by an algorithm that sorts each medical student’s list of residency programs they would like to participate in and matches their preferences with the student chosen by the residency program directors.

“I am so happy and proud that OHSU YourMD, the name of our MD program, has a 100% match again this year!” he said Tracy Bumsted, MD, MPH, associate dean of undergraduate medical education, OHSU School of Medicine. “This is a testament to the hard work and high caliber of our students and the outstanding efforts of the OASIS Career Counseling team led by Dr. Benjamin Schneider. This is the largest graduating class we’ve ever had in our program, and in today’s highly competitive and complex game, this result is remarkable.”

OHSU School of Medicine Dean David Jacoby, MD, he reflected on the game: “Entering medical school and then starting classes and wearing the white coat for the first time are big moments. But there really is nothing like Match Day. It is the culmination of intense effort and sacrifice, and the moment when you no longer have to imagine, but actually know for sure, where you will continue your journey in the practice of medicine. And for me, as dean and director. program, there’s nothing like being on Match Day to see our students discover where their paths will take them.’

Joining the medical community

In addition to studying the game, many students – more than 87% of the class – are spending an extra week in medical school. Because of the variable timing of the MD program and the competency-based curriculum, most fourth-year students complete their graduation requirements a term early. Most residential training programs begin in July.

This year, 31% of MD students are staying at OHSU for residency programs.

OHSU’s 24 residency programs participating in the NRMP match also posted a 100% match rate, filling 205 of 205 internship slots – the largest match ever for Graduate Medical Education, which oversees OHSU’s residency and fellowship programs.

Double match rates of 100% are indicators of the strong national reputation of the OHSU School of Medicine.

Welcome, alumni

Match Day also marks the transition to alumni status, as many students will close formal school next week and look to residency training and practice as doctors. Craig SwinyardChief Alumni Engagement Officer, OHSU Foundation, welcomed the alumni community.

“You’ve come to this point,” Swinyard said. “I know this has not been easy. So just for a moment, right now, take a moment to let this sink in. All the hours and effort you put into high school and undergrad and the application process and these past four years. You did this, and you should be very, very proud.’

He added, “Being a student at OHSU means you answer the call when someone needs your guidance, your perspective, your encouragement. Even in the coming months, I want you to think about how you can encourage a third-year MD student as they look ahead to their last year of medical school. We are all only successful because of the community that supports us. Congratulations, MD Class of 2023!”

Below, meet two students who were matched today.

Residency ready: Rural family medicine

For the student Alexandra Levin, MPH, It’s a dream come true: He joined the combined OHSU-Sky Lakes Cascades East Family Medicine Residency Program in Klamath Falls.

“I am excited to attend a program that fits me so well and will train me to be a full-spectrum rural family physician,” she said. “I feel happy, joy and excitement.”

He added: “I decided almost nine years ago that I wanted to go to medical school until today. Today is the end of many years of work.”

Levin enjoys working in rural areas, and after volunteering at a federally qualified health center and seeing family physicians at work before medical school, he knew rural family medicine was for him.

At OHSU, she became a student leader of the Family Medicine Student Interest Group, organized luncheon lectures and joined the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians as a student director.

In the summer of 2021, Levin — the first person in his family to attend medical school — spent three months on a field rotation at Cascades East Family Medicine Center. He immediately felt at home in the small town surrounded by sagebrush and meadows, pine forests and distant mountains.

There, he met people at the Cascades East Family Medicine Residency Program and was accepted into the Oregon Family Medicine Integrated Rural Student Training, or FIRST, program, which improves residency readiness for students entering rural family medicine training.

Levin moved to Klamath Falls to complete his senior year of medical school, taking advantage of all available opportunities, including training in wilderness medicine near Crater Lake National Park.

After residency, Levine hopes to practice family medicine in rural Oregon or New Mexico.

Residence ready: Urban pediatrics

Student Anna Ayala he is excited to be matched University of California San Francisco-PLUS Pediatric Residency Programwhich emphasizes developing pediatric leadership for health equity.

“I’m really happy and very grateful for the mentorship I received,” Ayala said. “I owe so much to Dr. Emily Carter at OHSU, and to my family and friends! Matching makes me feel like I’ve found my place in medicine. To find a program that reflects my values ​​and saw something in me is indescribable.”

Ayara’s goal after completing her residency training, she said, is to work with underserved communities and care for young patients in an urban area.

Originally from Sacramento, California, Ayala was drawn to the specialty of pediatrics during her rotations as a medical student.

“Pediatrics is one of the rare expressions of what love and care can do,” explained Ayala. “Everyone is ready to do whatever it takes for the well-being of a young patient. He fills your cup every day.’

Ayaraldea is also keen to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. As a biochemistry major at Willamette University in Salem, he took a restorative justice class with inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary and learned how institutions traditionally beneficial to society can also cause harm. Just as inmates and their families face many hardships, he said he now realizes that some ways of providing health care can have negative effects.

“I’m still learning how to use my privilege to empower others and do what’s right,” Ayala said, adding that she will also use that privilege to help her patients.

100% match rate includes Post-SOAP (NRMPs). Complementary Offer and Acceptance Program) match rate.

Franny White contributed to this report.