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University of Iowa med students learn their futures at Match Day
Mar. 18, 2016 5:26 pm
IOWA CITY - University of Iowa medical students wait for years to add their pin to the map of where they'll serve their residency.
Friday, the wait ended for nearly 150 of them.
These fourth-year College of Medicine students participated in 'match day” - an annual event where students learnwhere they will begin their medical residency training after graduation. This year's class included 78 pursuing residencies in primary care specialties - 24 in family medicine, 24 in internal medicine, 21 in pediatrics, and nine in obstetrics and gynecology. The top three specialties outside primary care were emergency medicine with 11 matches, psychiatry with nine and surgery with eight, according to Jennifer Brown, a UI Health Care spokeswoman. A third of this year's graduates will stay in Iowa for their first year of postgraduate training, 40 of whom will be at the UI Hospitals and Clinics. After Iowa, the most popular states for first-year training were Minnesota (13 matches) and Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin (10 matches each), all of which will receive 10 UI graduates.
Upon learning their residency destiny Friday, UI students celebrated with hugs, kisses, and cheers. Most of them were paired up through the National Residency Matching Program - although four secured residencies through the armed forces, and one opted to defer residency training.
This year's 150-graduate total holds mostly steady with last year's, when 154 medial students graduated - 152 of whom participated in the National Residency Matching Program. Those numbers are up from 2010, when 132 students graduated and 128 participated in the matching program.
Among this year's pool of new residents are the first four to graduate out of the UI College of Medicine Rural Iowa Scholars Program - known as CRISP. That program started in 2012 as a way to address a shortage of doctors in rural Iowa by incentivizing students to locate there after their training.
Students chosen for the program, which admits four a year, follow the same medical curriculum as their peers but also are exposed to various elements of rural medicine through mentorships, research, seminars, and electives, according to Brown. CRISP graduates are eligible to receiving up to $100,000 in loan repayment if - after their residency - they practice at least five years in a small Iowa community with a population under 26,000 located more than 20 miles from a city of 50,000.
Since UI launched its incentive program, the State of Iowa also has introduced an initiative called the 'Rural Iowa Primary Loan Repayment Program.” That offers loan repayment for practicing medicine in a small Iowa community. Brown said some of this year's 150 UI graduates could be participating in that state program, but she couldn't provide numbers.
Solon native Whitney Kaefring and her husband Max Liu react after finding out where she'll do her residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Kaefring is one of the first graduates of the College of Medicine) Rural Iowa Scholars Program, or CRISP, which began in 2012. The program prepares medical students for work in a rural setting and provides incentives if they choose to remain in Iowa. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
University of Iowa Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education Chris Cooper reads the names of graduating students who will find out where they will do their residencies at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facilityon Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions, and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Carver College of Medicine registrar Damien Ihrig draws envelopes out of a rotary tumbler at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facilityon Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Solon native Whitney Kaefring and her fiancé Max Liu waits to find out where she'll do her residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facilityon Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. The program prepares medical students for work in a rural setting and provides incentives if they choose to remain in Iowa. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Elizabeth Dupic video chats with her husband as she finds out where she'll do her residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Elizabeth Dupic hugs her mother and father after finding out where she'll do her residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Susan Zhu and Emily Nguyen congratulate Catherine Zhang after finding out where Zhang will do her residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Jenna and Jesse Van Maanen react after finding out where he'll do his residency at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Jake Hemberger, Alyse Carlson and Jennifer Hemesath pin their names on a map after finding out where they'll do their residencies at Match Day at the Medical Engineering Research Facility on Friday, Mar. 18, 2016. Medical students complete a residency program at a hospital following four years of medical school. Match Day is significant for medical students throughout the United States, who all find out their placement beginning at the same time. Students rate their top institutions and hospitals interview students before an algorithm pairs both the student and institution with the best match. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
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