Which Characteristics of Applicants and Medical Schools Produce the Most Integrated Plastic Surgery Residents? An Analysis of the 2016-2022 Cohort.

Background: Since the advent of integrated residency programs in the 1960s, the plastic and reconstructive surgery (PRS) match has become increasingly competitive, with 1.8 applicants per available residency position in 2022. The study aimed, first, to determine the characteristics of the 2016-2022 integrated PRS resident cohort that were associated with successful matching and, second, to identify attributes of medical schools that produced the most integrated PRS residents within this 6-year period.

Methods: Using publicly available websites, demographic and training characteristics of residents at ACGME-accredited programs, plus class size, affiliated PRS training programs, and presence of Plastic Surgery interest groups (PSIGs) at US medical schools were collected and analyzed.

Results: Of the 1122 matched residents, 48% were female, 5% were international medical graduates, 99% held MD degrees, 13% held additional graduate-level degrees, and 33% were awarded AΩA. Georgetown University had the largest number of its graduates match into PRS at 31, and New York University had the largest percentage of its graduates match into PRS at 3.17%. On average, schools with both an integrated and independent program had more graduates enter PRS (10.6), compared to those with integrated only (8.9) or independent only (5.7) (p = 0.01).

Conclusions: Nearly all integrated PRS residents in the 2016-2022 cohort graduated from US allopathic medical schools. Additionally, medical schools that produced the greatest number of PRS residents were affiliated with a home training program and/or PSIG. Further exploration of advantageous and disadvantageous factors associated with matching could help identify areas to improve equity and diversity in PRS training.