Med Peds Apps Down or Up this year?

[Amelia]

To all those applying for med-peds, it seems that in the past couple of years that the number of residency positions and programs fluctuates, and may be on a down-trend, does anyone have a feel if the number of people applying for med-peds is going up or down, i.e. are PDs commenting about less applications? just curious!

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[ekydrd]

Our program had a larger number of applicants this year. I think the overall trend will continue to be up as more and more employers are seeing the value of Med-Peds trained physicians. My program plans to expand the number of slots in the next few years, and there will likely be more programs offering Med-Peds residencies as time goes by. Remember, this is a relatively new residency and it takes time for it's value to be recognized.

 

[Sharn Penndroen]

Interviewing this year. There was a greater portion of my classmates applying Med-Peds than in years past. Also my home program just doubled its spots available. I think that there was a drop in program numbers with the development of Med-Peds having its own RRC, but as interest continues to increase we'll see the number of programs continue to increase.

 

[jones173]

what is an RRC?

 

[Brunette1981]

Residency Review Committee

 

[Sharn Penndroen]

In the past to have a med-peds program you just needed to have an accredited Internal Medicine program and an accredited Pediatrics program. Med-Peds didn't have its own accreditation. This wasn't really an issue until (as I've heard it told), some physicians in Texas were filling out a form and on the form it asked, "Did you graduate from an accredited Residency program?" They answered "no" because their Med-Peds program wasn't accredited because there was no such thing for Med-Peds. So then it was decided that Med-Peds should have its own accreditation. As part of that accreditation, it was required that there be a single governing entity over the residency program. Some programs closed then because if they were set up in such a way that the medicine and pediatric portions were governed by separate entities it didn't meet accreditation. Anyway, that is what I was talking about when I said that Med-Peds got its own RRC.

 

[The Med-Peds Dude]

In our program, the number of US grads the same, number of IMG applicants up about 150%.

Preliminary data from ERAS this year indicates from 2007 10 2008, the average applications per program rose from 70.9 to71.6 for US and Canadian grads, and from 76.7 to 116 for IMG's.
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[nevercold]

I find it much easier to imagine that the only applicants to a program are those I am interviewing with on the interview day. Helps to make me worry about the whole competition part much less.

 

[ekydrd]

In the past to have a med-peds program you just needed to have an accredited Internal Medicine program and an accredited Pediatrics program. Med-Peds didn't have its own accreditation... Some programs closed then because if they were set up in such a way that the medicine and pediatric portions were governed by separate entities it didn't meet accreditation...

There were also a program that closed because their home Peds department was hosting two separate Med/Peds programs. The rules state that they can only host one. We took in one of the residents from that program here so that he could finish his residency.