Application rates to surgical residency programs in Canada

Abstract

This is an Open Journal Systems article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study is to identify if the previously reported declining interest in surgery amongst medical students persists, and also to provide more descriptive analysis of trends by surgical specialty and medical school. Our hypothesis is that the previously reported decreasing interest in surgery remains constant for some surgical disciplines. Methods:The Canadian Resident Matching Service and the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada provided data for this study. Several metrics of interest in surgery, including overall application trends, applications by discipline, and rankings by school of graduation were evaluated. Descriptive statistics and linear regression modeling were used. Results:Between 2007 and 2017 the number of non-surgical residency positions and Canadian medical graduates increased significantly. However, the number of surgical residency positions and applications to surgical programs did not change significantly. The number of rankings to orthopedic and vascular surgery decreased significantly. Likewise, applicants to general, orthopedic, plastic, otolaryngology, and vascular surgery decreased significantly. Vascular surgery saw a significant decrease in first choice rankings. Total rankings to surgical programs increased significantly at McGill, with no significant change at other Canadian institutions. Conclusions:The findings of this study suggest that while the number of applicants to surgical residency positions has been consistent, it is not keeping pace with the growing number of both CMGs and non-surgical residency Canadian Medical Education Journal 2019 xx positions. Furthermore, by using other measures of medical student interest in surgical specialties, such as the total number of rankings to a specialty through the residency matching process, the total number of applicants applying to a surgical discipline and the total number of first choice ranks that each surgical discipline received, we have demonstrated that there is a possible declining interest in some surgical disciplines Résumé Objectif : Cette étude vise à établir s'il persiste un déclin de l'intérêt pour la chirurgie parmi les étudiants en médecine, etfournir une analyse plus descriptive des tendances par spécialité chirurgicale et par faculté de médecine. Notre hypothèse est que le déclin précédemment rapporté de l'intérêt pour la chirurgie reste constant pour certaines disciplines chirurgicales.Méthodes : Le Service canadien de jumelage des résidents et l'Association des facultés de médecine du Canada ont fourni les données pour la présente étude. Plusieurs paramètres d'intérêt en chirurgie ont été évalués, dont les tendances globales des demandes d'admission, les demandes par discipline et les classements p...

The role of gender in the decision to pursue a surgical career: A qualitative, interview-based study

“…24 Increasingly, however, lifestyle-related challenges are becoming important considerations for both women and men, 10,25 and may help explain the decline or stagnancy in applications to more demanding specialities such as surgery. 12,26 Our findings confirm the challenges associated with balancing the demands of a surgical career with raising a family and underscore the importance of policies around parental leave for both childbearing and non-childbearing parents. Not only must these policies exist on paper, but they must also be supported at all levels in order to be effective.…”

Attractiveness and gender dynamics in surgical specialties: A comparative analysis of French medical graduates (2017-2022)

“…Despite it previously being one of the most competitive elds, our estimates suggest that it will be the rst surgical subspecialty to experience a downturn in France. This mirrors similar recruitment problems in the UK [28,29], Canada [30] and the United States [31]. Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery is a small but physically and psychologically challenging specialty.…”

Nationwide Study on Stress Perception Among Surgical Residents

“…Considering the steadily declining number of applicants for surgical specialties in Switzerland and Europe and a worrisome attrition rate in North America [24][25][26][27][28], investigations of the causes of the observed disenchantment, including the impact of the learning and workplace environments, are urgently needed [29][30][31][32][33].…”