2019 residency match day was largest in history

(HealthDay)—The 2019 Main Residency Match was the largest in history, with a record high of 38,376 applicants for 35,185 positions, according to 2019 Match Day results released by the National Resident Matching Program.

The National Resident Matching Program says that overall, 79.6 percent of applicants matched to first-year positions and 94.9 percent of first-year positions were filled. Specialty positions, like those in plastic surgery, neurological surgery, orthopedic surgery, thoracic surgery, and otolaryngology, were more likely to be filled with fourth-year U.S. medical students, while primary care positions, including those in family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics, were less than 45 percent filled with fourth-year U.S. medical students.

Internal medicine remains the largest training specialty, offering just over one-quarter of all first-year positions. Internal medicine programs offered a record high of 8,116 categorical positions and 396 primary care positions.

"The continual annual increases in the number of offered and matched internal medicine positions demonstrates national recognition for the value provided by internists in our health care system," Davoren Chick, M.D., senior vice president of medical education for the American College of Physicians, said in a statement.