Geographic Trends in the Neurosurgery Match During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In the present article, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on geographical trends in the neurosurgery match in successfully matched applicants was analyzed. A cross-sectional analysis for the years from 2017 to 2021 was performed. Successful applicants' region, state, and medical school were compared with the location of their matched residency program. The number of applicants matching at a residency program within the same region or state as their home medical school or their own medical school was then evaluated. One hundred fifteen neurosurgery residency programs and 1066 successfully matched applicants were included in the analysis. When comparing 2021 with previous years, no significant change in the percentage of applicants matching at their home region (43.1% vs 49.7%, P = .09), home state (25.1% vs 26.3%, P = .69), or home program (19.9% vs 18.7%, P = .70) was found. The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly affect geographic trends during the neurosurgery match in 2021. This is of note as the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the match in other competitive specialties, including plastic surgery, dermatology, and otolaryngology. Despite limited away rotations, it is possible that neurosurgery programs did not change their applicant selection criteria and implemented systems to virtually interact with applicants outside of their local region.

The Neurosurgery Match: COVID-19 Comparison and Bibliometric Analysis

“…Similar trends were observed in dermatology and otolaryngology. 4 , 5 To the author's knowledge, only 1 study exists within neurosurgery, in which a study by Moya et al 7 recently revealed that neurosurgery residents were not more likely to match into the state or region as their home medical school. While the study arrived at the same conclusion as the present study, it used 5 years instead of 4, and within the matched 4-year study period before and after COVID-19, assessed 868 residents, 8% less than the present study.…”

“…This could be due to reliance on the more limited data from the National Resident Matching Program, whereas the present study derived data from the institutions themselves. Moya et al 7 also failed to assess geographic trends relative to undergraduate and hometown location. The present study found that while the geographic trend did not vary with respect to COVID-19 or time for undergraduate or hometown region, more residents in neurosurgery match in the same state or region relative to their medical school than either undergraduate school or hometown.…”

“…Moya et al 7 failed to assess international experience, graduate degrees, and gender for neurosurgery residents. No trend was observed with respect to COVID-19; however, the characterization of the most recent 4 years of resident is interesting in the male predominance and high proportion of residents with graduate degrees.…”

“…While subspecialties such as plastic surgery, otolaryngology, and dermatology have demonstrated significant differences in the behavior of residency applicants (such as matching more often at their home or local programs), 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 neurosurgery has proven unique in that COVID-19 did not cause geographic changes in a recent study of 5 residency classes by Moya et al. 7 However, COVID-19 impacted the way in which students were able to perform a multitude of other aspects, including interacting with mentors, obtaining international experience, and seeking additional postgraduate studies.…”