A call for capping residency interviews

 One clear symptom that the marketplace for medical residents is in crisis is the persistent drumbeat of suggestions for how to modify it.  The transition from medical school to residency has become congested, with many applications and interviews preceding the centralized clearinghouse known as the Match (which will yield its results on March 19).  

One way to treat a disease is to treat some of its most obvious symptoms. Here's the latest such proposal, to put a cap on the number of interviews. (Readers of this blog will wonder how those will be coordinated, and a number of proposals have been made including signaling, or a centralized interview match.)  

I'm hoping that data will become available to allow these proposals to be better evaluated, and perhaps to allow a market design that will deal with causes as well as symptoms.

Here's the latest, from Medscape.

Fixing the Match Crisis Starts With Capping Interviews  by Helen K. Morgan, MD

"Concern over the so-called "Match crisis" increases every cycle. This year, pandemic-related changes have shined a spotlight on the skewed distribution of interviews. Thanks to the shift from in-person to virtual interviews, applicants were no longer limited by travel and financial concerns. According to some experts, this has resulted in "top" candidates taking additional slots and subsequently reducing opportunities for others.

"Worry about residency interview distribution has surged, with letters of concern posted by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American College of Surgeons. Before the start of this season, my colleagues and I modeled the potentially dire consequences of ob/gyn applicants "hoarding" too many interviews in an article published in the Journal of Surgical Education.

The residency application problems exposed by the pandemic aren't going anywhere without action. Establishing a cap on interviews is now clearly necessary...."

HT: Mike Rees