Washington, D.C., March 21, 2002 - At noon today, more than 23,000 applicants in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) will find out which residency program they will enter for training. Data from this year's residency match, which serves as an indicator of career interests among medical school graduates, shows a decrease in applicants matched to generalist positions such as family practice, pediatrics, and internal medicine. Interest in certain medical specialties, including anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and diagnostic radiology, appears to be on the rise with more matches in each specialty.

The "Match", conducted annually by the NRMP, is the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at U.S. teaching hospitals. There were 23,459 active applicants in the 2002 match, including 14,336 U.S. medical school seniors. Active U.S. medical school senior applicants enjoyed the highest percentage of matches to first year residency positions (PGY-1), with a 94.1 percent match rate.

Results from the 2002 Match indicate a decrease in residency positions filled in six primary care specialties: family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, medicine-pediatrics, internal medicine primary, and pediatrics primary. There were 373 fewer U.S. seniors filling these generalist residency positions, with 205 less positions filled overall; international medical graduates made up the difference with 116 more matches to these positions than last year.

Some specialty areas experienced an increase in match rates compared to last year. Among these specialties are: anesthesiology, with a fill rate of 95.1 percent, a 7 percent increase over last year, and physical medicine and rehabilitation, for which the fill rate increased from 77.3 percent to 90.4 percent. Moreover, diagnostic radiology filled an additional 44 PGY-2 positions this year.

There was a slight decrease this year in the number of U.S. medical school seniors matching to general surgery positions. Although the number of available general surgery positions remained largely unchanged since 2001, the number of U.S. seniors filling those positions dropped from 820 in 2001 to 782 this year.

There were 542 couples participating in this year's match, 18 less than last year. The match rate for couples was 95.1 percent. A couple is defined as two applicants who participant in the match as partners.

The Match Week process began Monday, March 18, when applicants were informed whether they had been matched to a residency program, though the name of the program was not provided. On Tuesday, March 19, the locations of all unfilled residency positions were released to unmatched applicants, who can then contact programs about the open positions. Today matched applicants will be informed where they will spend their years of residency training.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 131 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 128,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 110,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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