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MARCH 20, 2003
| Fourth-year students in the College of
Medicine at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences (UAMS) found out where
they will spend the next several years in
residency training during the annual
"Match Day" ceremony today.
It was a
dramatic occasion, as students ripped open
envelopes to learn whether they have won
residency placements at their first
choices of academic health centers.
Residencies
are one or more years, depending on the
medical specialties the students have
chosen. A nationwide computerized
selection process matches fourth-year
students with residency programs in
Arkansas and elsewhere. Richard Wheeler,
M.D., executive associate dean for
academic affairs, presided over the
ceremony.
The
National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)
allows senior medical students who are
seeking first-year post-graduate positions
and institutions that are offering
positions the opportunity to rank their
preferences confidentially at a uniform
date. The NRMP matches each student to the
program ranked highest on his or her
listing that offers a position.
This year,
125 UAMS College
of Medicine seniors participated in
the NRMP match. Only 14 failed to match
initially.
Nationally,
there were 20,908 PGY1 positions to be
filled through the NRMP match. There were
23,965 total active applicants for these
positions (14,332 U.S. seniors). 18,806
matched (13,364 U.S. seniors) and 5159
failed to match (968 U.S. seniors).
So far, 68
seniors received appointments to Arkansas
residency positions, while 60 received
out-of-state residencies in 24 states.
Fifty-two
percent of the UAMS seniors received
residencies in a primary care specialty
(Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family
Medicine, and Ob/Gyn).
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