Number of U.S. medical students choosing internal medicine residencies up by about 5 percent
FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The number of U.S. medical students choosing internal medicine residencies has increased by about 5 percent in 2015, with about a 4 percent increase in the number of new internal medicine positions during this time, according to a report from the American College of Physicians (ACP).
Internal medicine enrollment numbers have increased consistently in recent years, from 2,772 in 2010 to 3,317 in 2015. There was also an increase in the percentage of U.S. seniors matched to postgraduate year one positions, from 18.9 percent in 2011 to 19.8 percent in 2015. Over the last four years, the percentage of internal medicine positions filled by U.S. seniors has remained consistent at about 49 percent.
The 2015 internal medicine match is still lower than that seen in 1985 when 3,884 U.S. medical school graduates chose internal medicine residency programs. Most current internal medicine residents will subspecialize and ultimately enter subspecialties such as cardiology or gastroenterology. Only about one-fifth (22 percent) of internal medicine residents will specialize in general internal medicine, compared with 54 percent in 1998. In 2015, there were also increases in U.S. medical graduates who matched in Internal Medicine-Primary Care and in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics.
“The American College of Physicians is pleased to see that the number of internal medicine positions offered in 2015 increased to 6,770, or about one in four of the available residencies,” Patrick Alguire, M.D., the ACP’s senior vice president for medical education, said in a statement.
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