Is it Time for Wilderness Medicine Fellowships to Join the National Resident Matching Program Specialties Matching Service?

Abstract

The national resident matching program specialties matching service (SMS) fills fellowship positions for 66 subspecialties. Wilderness medicine (WM) fellowships currently do not participate in SMS; instead, WM uses an offer date to fill positions. To be successful, at least 75% of the available positions within a subspecialty must be within the SMS match. All 13 civilian WM fellowship directors recruiting for academic year (AY) 2019 to 2020 and WM fellowship alumni were surveyed regarding future participation in the SMS. Estimation of the performance of SMS for WM was calculated using data published by the national resident matching program. Fellowship directors from all 13 civilian WM fellowships and 60 fellowship alumni participated in the survey. SMS was supported by 62% (n=8) of fellowship directors and 55% (n=33) of fellows. Willingness to pay SMS fees was 54% (n=7) among fellowship directors and 60% (n=36) among fellows. Of matched applicants, 85% (n=51) obtained their top choice program. SMS, if implemented, was perceived to have no impact on matching a top choice program by 53% (n=31); however, 34% (n=20) believed SMS would improve the chance of an applicant matching higher. The match success of SMS for specialties with fewer than 30 programs is 74%. Of the 20 WM fellowship positions in AY 2019 to 2020, 16 were matched, for a success rate of 80%. There is insufficient support (<75%) at this time to institute an SMS match for WM. The offer date performed similarly to SMS for filling fellowship positions in AY 2019 to 2020.