369 unmatched gen surg positions

[mexsurg]

I'm assuming this includes prelim spots? Well congrats to those you have matched today and now we must wait three more agonizing days to find out where.

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[apma77]

I think the statistics themselves are evident that surgery continues to be shunned as a field by med students these days,,,theres no relief either in the near future.

the malignant personalities continue to be in the field with little compensation and pathetic lifestyle for the most.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Yes, the 369 figure includes preliminary spots in general surgery.

I wondered whether or not this figure represented an increase in the number of unfilled positions, and so I looked up the regional match statistics for 2002 and 2001. In 2002 there were 469 unfilled positions in general surgery and in 2001 a little over 500 spots went unfilled.

The 369 figure signals that, if anything, general surgery has GROWN in popularity over the last two years. Now we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see just how many of the 369 are actually categorical. If I'm not mistaken there were almost 60 unfilled categorical general surgery spots last year.

Congratulations to my fellow matched surgical colleagues!

 

[womansurg]

My program director tells me that, of the unfilled CATEGORICAL spots, they are virtually all unversity programs. Truth is, I can rattle off a bunch of programs which have failed to fill in the past and they are all U's. Does anyone know of community programs which haven't filled?

 

[Pilot Doc]

Didn't fill in the match 2002 & 2001
Atlanta Medical Center (Georgia Baptist)
University of Kansas Medical Center
Tulane University
Louisiana State University (Shreveport)
Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center
Good Samaritan Hospital
Maimonides Medical Center
Carraway Methodist Medical Center
SUNY Upstate Medical University
University of Minnesota
Michigan State University

Didn't Fill 2002
Howard University
University of Florida Jacksonville
Orlando Regional Healthcare System
Morehouse School of Medicine
Western Reserve Care System/NEOUCOM
Temple University
Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh
Brown University
Palmetto Health/University of South Carolina
Greenville Hospital System
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Carilion Health System
University of California (San Francisco)/East Bay
St Agnes HealthCare
Fairview Health System
Wright State University
Christus St Joseph Hospital
Medical College of Wisconsin
University of Virginia
Medical College of Georgia
SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn
Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center

Didn't Fill 2001
Loma Linda University
Waterbury Hospital Health Center
University of Louisville
Berkshire Medical Center
St John Hospital and Medical Center
Providence Hospital and Medical Centers
University of Missouri-Columbia
Albany Medical Center
SUNY Buffalo
Huron Hospital
St Elizabeth Health Center/NEOUCOM
Temple University/Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital
Allegheny General Hospital
York Hospital
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Maricopa Medical Center
Washington Hospital Center
Saginaw Cooperative Hospitals
Washington University/B-JH/SLCH Consortium
St Barnabas Medical Center
Akron General Medical Center/NEOUCOM
Penn State University/ Hershey Medical Center
Marshfield Clinic-St Joseph's Hospital
Baystate Medical Center
Albert Einstein Medical Center
Baylor College of Medicine
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
University of Mississippi Medical Center

 

[msgbueno]

Can somebody explain to me why general surgery is so unpopular? I thought getting into any type of surgery was competitive. I must be missing some type of info...

 

[vuillaume]

It's not that General Surgery is *so* unpopular. It's that it used to be extremely competitive to get a slot a few years ago; and there now appears to be a trend among medical students to apply to specialties that facilitate better lifestyles.

Still, if you check out one of the new threads, only 9 programs (for a total of 11 positions) didn't fill their Categorical slots, and there are none of those anomalous UVA's or Wash. U's among these this year. The 358 other slots are Preliminary years.

My suspicion is that General Surgery will get *more* popular in the near future as the 80 hour work requirements hash out, and the potential of short-tracking into fellowships becomes more widespread. I think plenty of people like the OR, but don't like the idea of 120-hour work weeks that Surgery residency used to require (and probably still does intermittently--just not on average). Now that this obstacle has been bulldozed by the RRC, I'll bet more people will think seriously about applying.

Naturally, people shouldn't choose specialties based on how popular or "cool" they seem currently. They should just assess what interests them enough to outweigh whatever (if any) pain that specialty may inflict.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

Funny how times change. Hope you enjoy this blast from the past!

 

[Winged Scapula]

Funny how times change. Hope you enjoy this blast from the past!

Thanks...although that year only 9 categorical positions were open, so more than this year obviously, but not a great change (for that you'll have to go back a couple more years)!