How important is research for Anesthesiology?

[mytoechondria]

So I'm almost done with my first year of medical school and I'm starting to think about specialties I'm interested in. Anesthesiology is kind of at the top of that list right now but I'm a bit worried because I don't have any research at all right now, not even from undergrad. A lot of my classmates have publications, have done research before, are doing research now, or already have things lined up for summer...and it's really starting to make me worry because I feel like I'm so far behind everyone.

Basically, as the title states, how important is research for Anesthesiology? As in, how much research or what kind of quality of research should I have if I want to match to at least a "mid-tier" level residency in or near a decently nice city? Matching at top residencies isn't really a priority of mine and I don't think I would enjoy doing research anyway so I'm kind of already giving up on "top" residencies. Am I doing myself a huge disservice by not really doing research? Is getting involved in 2-3 projects over the course of my time in med school enough?

Sorry for all the questions..any advice at all would help though. Thanks

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[brominator]

Anesthesiology * and it can help but not necessary , best bet is top board scores and good letters, are you as US MD ?

 

[mytoechondria]

Anesthesiology * and it can help but not necessary , best bet is top board scores and good letters, are you as US MD ?

Edited, thanks. I am a US MD, yeah. Does that mean it's possible to match nowadays at good/mid tier and above residencies without any research? Or am I reading that too literally lol

 

[coffeebythelake]

Edited, thanks. I am a US MD, yeah. Does that mean it's possible to match nowadays at good/mid tier and above residencies without any research? Or am I reading that too literally lol

Research isn't really needed even if you are applying for top tier programa

 

[kidthor]

You'll be fine. You don't need to have any research. It might help if you went to a meeting and presented an interesting case abstract which a motivated med student can do with no problem (notwithstanding the financial hit, which might not be too bad if a conference is near you and maybe your school/department would support you in some way). If you want to be really hardcore you can link up with FAER and do a sponsored research summer via them, but that would be next level and not needed.

 

[nimbus]

Research isn't really needed even if you are applying for top tier programa

Yeah it’s not derm or ortho.

 

[mytoechondria]

Research isn't really needed even if you are applying for top tier programa

You'll be fine. You don't need to have any research. It might help if you went to a meeting and presented an interesting case abstract which a motivated med student can do with no problem (notwithstanding the financial hit, which might not be too bad if a conference is near you and maybe your school/department would support you in some way). If you want to be really hardcore you can link up with FAER and do a sponsored research summer via them, but that would be next level and not needed.

Yeah it’s not derm or ortho.

Is that really the case?? I'm not questioning/doubting you guys, I'm just really surprised to hear that. I heard it's becoming more competitive nowadays and with step going P/F it's even more surprising. I really hope that's the case though. I do plan to get involved in some sort of research regardless, just so I have something on my app.

 

[kidthor]

Is that really the case?? I'm not questioning/doubting you guys, I'm just really surprised to hear that. I heard it's becoming more competitive nowadays and with step going P/F it's even more surprising. I really hope that's the case though. I do plan to get involved in some sort of research regardless, just so I have something on my app.

Yes it’s true. It’s competitive the way internal medicine is. It’s a huge speciality with tons of programs, but most any reasonable US trained doctor should have no trouble matching.

 

[nimbus]

Yes it’s true. It’s competitive the way internal medicine is. It’s a huge speciality with tons of programs, but most any reasonable US trained doctor should have no trouble matching.

I agree. It’s a numbers game. There are at least 50-60 programs that offer excellent training and they need to fill over 1000 spots/year. An average graduate should have no problem matching at a program that offers excellent training. They don’t get a lot of mentions here but places like Univ of Nebraska, Ohio state, MCW, Univ of Minnesota, Univ of Rochester, etc all offer first rate training with all the bells and whistles you’d expect at the more commonly mentioned places.

 

[coffeebythelake]

Is that really the case?? I'm not questioning/doubting you guys, I'm just really surprised to hear that. I heard it's becoming more competitive nowadays and with step going P/F it's even more surprising. I really hope that's the case though. I do plan to get involved in some sort of research regardless, just so I have something on my app.

I am on faculty at a major metropolitan university hospital thay many people would consider a top program, and I can tell yoi 2/3 of our incoming residents do not have any research experience

 

[mytoechondria]

Yes it’s true. It’s competitive the way internal medicine is. It’s a huge speciality with tons of programs, but most any reasonable US trained doctor should have no trouble matching.

I agree. It’s a numbers game. There are at least 50-60 programs that offer excellent training and they need to fill over 1000 spots/year. An average graduate should have no problem matching at a program that offers excellent training. They don’t get a lot of mentions here but places like Univ of Nebraska, Ohio state, MCW, Univ of Minnesota, Univ of Rochester, etc all offer first rate training with all the bells and whistles you’d expect at the more commonly mentioned places.

I am on faculty at a major metropolitan university hospital thay many people would consider a top program, and I can tell yoi 2/3 of our incoming residents do not have any research experience

That's incredible - you all just made my day. I really don't think I'm someone that would enjoy research so that's super reassuring. Will do my best to get some in though but yeah...so happy right now lol.

 

[AnonymousPD]

mytoechondria,

Now that we are fresh off of this year's match, this might be the perfect time to answer your question.

How important is research? I would tell you that I largely agree with the previous posts that said having an extensive research background is helpful but unnecessary. Research is just one of many parts of your application. And while it isn't necessary that have a ton of projects...it does stand out in a negative way if all we see is a blank box and you've NEVER participated in some sort of academic activity. But like everything, there are exceptions. Programs and recruiting committees are all unique, and so a given attribute will be valued differently. No one will be surprised to hear that a thin research background will be a competitive disadvantage at a program that prioritizes academically productive residents. But that same background will be almost inconsequential at a program that is clinically focused.

There are more than 1800 residents per class and there are not that many medical students with impeccable research credentials. So @coffeebythelake is right to say that even the most blue blood academic program will have trouble filling if lack of extensive research experience was an absolute deal-breaker.

But you should know that Anesthesiology is becoming more and more competitive. This year there were 2681 applicants for 1509 PGY-1 positions, and only 1 spot went unfilled. There were 1812 applicants for 346 PGY-2 positions, and 0 spots went unfilled. Subjectively, the depth of our applicant pool gets deeper every year. For those interested in comparing and contrasting...here are some of this year's match statistics:

https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Advance-Data-Tables-2022-FINAL.pdf

While it may have been true that in the past that "any reasonably trained US doctor should would have no trouble matching." That is not true right now. The quality of candidates we are seeing that are re-applying after a failed match would shock you. It's probably due to a number of things (increasing popularity of the specialty, virtual interviews, etc.) but combined with the increase in number of medical students without a concurrent increase in the number of residency positions, life is more difficult for the perfectly capable, but run-of-the-mill student.

 

[nimbus]

mytoechondria,

Now that we are fresh off of this year's match, this might be the perfect time to answer your question.

How important is research? I would tell you that I largely agree with the previous posts that said having an extensive research background is helpful but unnecessary. Research is just one of many parts of your application. And while it isn't necessary that have a ton of projects...it does stand out in a negative way if all we see is a blank box and you've NEVER participated in some sort of academic activity. But like everything, there are exceptions. Programs and recruiting committees are all unique, and so a given attribute will be valued differently. No one will be surprised to hear that a thin research background will be a competitive disadvantage at a program that prioritizes academically productive residents. But that same background will be almost inconsequential at a program that is clinically focused.

There are more than 1800 residents per class and there are not that many medical students with impeccable research credentials. So @coffeebythelake is right to say that even the most blue blood academic program will have trouble filling if lack of extensive research experience was an absolute deal-breaker.

But you should know that Anesthesiology is becoming more and more competitive. This year there were 2681 applicants for 1509 PGY-1 positions, and only 1 spot went unfilled. There were 1812 applicants for 346 PGY-2 positions, and 0 spots went unfilled. Subjectively, the depth of our applicant pool gets deeper every year. For those interested in comparing and contrasting...here are some of this year's match statistics:

https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Advance-Data-Tables-2022-FINAL.pdf

While it may have been true that in the past that "any reasonably trained US doctor should would have no trouble matching." That is not true right now. The quality of candidates we are seeing that are re-applying after a failed match would shock you. It's probably due to a number of things (increasing popularity of the specialty, virtual interviews, etc.) but combined with the increase in number of medical students without a concurrent increase in the number of residency positions, life is more difficult for the perfectly capable, but run-of-the-mill student.

Did the high quality reapplicants initially fail to match in anesthesia or another specialty? It would be interesting to see how many of the 1489 USMD seniors failed to match in anesthesia.

 

[coffeebythelake]

Did the high quality reapplicants initially fail to match in anesthesia or another specialty? It would be interesting to see how many of the 1489 USMD seniors failed to match in anesthesia.

Didn't the latest data show that basically every anesthesia position was filled?

 

[AnonymousPD]

Did the high quality reapplicants initially fail to match in anesthesia or another specialty? It would be interesting to see how many of the 1489 USMD seniors failed to match in anesthesia.

Yes...these are applicants who failed the anesthesia match. Applicants who were objectively in the middle of the class, who interviewed fine, and otherwise had no red flags. "50th percentile" type candidates who got fewer interviews than expected and didn't match at all. Normally, when you get a reapplication, the reason(s) someone didn't match jump off the screen at you. Not so in the last few cycles.

Anesthesia has always been a backup for failed surgical subspecialty candidates. Subjectively, that population seemed about the same this year as in years past.

 

[nimbus]

Didn't the latest data show that basically every anesthesia position was filled?

Yes they did. But there were still a few more anesthesia positions (1509) than graduating USMDs (1489) applying to anesthesia. I was wondering how many graduating USMDs failed to match in anesthesia.

 

[nimbus]

Yes...these are applicants who failed the anesthesia match. Applicants who were objectively in the middle of the class, who interviewed fine, and otherwise had no red flags. "50th percentile" type candidates who got fewer interviews than expected and didn't match at all. Normally, when you get a reapplication, the reason(s) someone didn't match jump off the screen at you. Not so in the last few cycles.

Anesthesia has always been a backup for failed surgical subspecialty candidates. Subjectively, that population seemed about the same this year as in years past.

I guess that’s good news for the specialty and bad news for applicants.

 

[DocDad1]

Yes it’s true. It’s competitive the way internal medicine is. It’s a huge speciality with tons of programs, but most any reasonable US trained doctor should have no trouble matching.

More competitive than IM and far fewer programs and positions. Nearly ⅓ of US MDs did not match anesthesia in 2022 Match.

 

[sice4]

With the increasing competitiveness of anesthesiology, are aways necessary for matching to top programs in good locations? For instance, can a strong applicant with 250+ step 1, top 40 medical school and some anesthesia research safely not do an away and match to one of those programs?

 

[nimbus]

More competitive than IM and far fewer programs and positions. Nearly ⅓ of US MDs did not match anesthesia in 2022 Match.

There were 500 unmatched USMD anesthesia applicants?! If 1/3 of USMD applicants did not match, that would make anesthesia as competitive as derm. I would guess that most of the applicants that did not match into a PGY-1 anesthesia position did match into a pgy-2 anesthesia position since most people apply to both in the same cycle.

Also, who fills the 114 R positions?

 

[nimbus]

With the increasing competitiveness of anesthesiology, are aways necessary for matching to top programs in good locations? For instance, can a strong applicant with 250+ step 1, top 40 medical school and some anesthesia research safely not do an away and match to one of those programs?

My old program specifically discouraged audition rotations because they could only accommodate a few outside students and did not want to unfairly advantage students who got a rotation or those who could afford to rotate out of town.

 

[MDMechEngr]

Quite a few of the unmatched applied anesthesiology as a backup. They were able to matched into their surgical specialty instead. Will need to wait for charting to come out this summer to see what the true match rate was for this year. looking at last year's and this year's numbers, i would guess that it will be around 90% for MD and slighly below 80% for DO.

 

[nimbus]

Quite a few of the unmatched applied anesthesiology as a backup. They were able to matched into their surgical specialty instead. Will need to wait for charting to come out this summer to see what the true match rate was for this year. looking at last year's and this year's numbers, i would guess that it will be around 90% for MD and slighly below 80% for DO.

Looking at pure numbers, the number of applicants and positions have both grown over the years. The ratio appears to have remained about the same.

 

[CHARLESTONMMM]

I think one reason research isn’t needed is because programs use residents as manpower. Research isn’t staffing that add-on cysto.

 

[AnonymousPD]

With the increasing competitiveness of anesthesiology, are aways necessary for matching to top programs in good locations? For instance, can a strong applicant with 250+ step 1, top 40 medical school and some anesthesia research safely not do an away and match to one of those programs?

Is doing an away rotation necessary? No. Sometimes they help and on rare occasions they hurt. But the vast majority of positions (that didn't go to a student from the home institution) are filled by candidates who didn't do aways.

The fallacy here is that a 250+ on Step 1, going to a good US Med School, and some amount of research means you a strong candidate. No question, those are all helpful in varying degrees...but students need to remember that everything counts. Those things will matter very little in the face of things like a catastrophic interview, or a landmine that makes it into one of your letters, or poor performance on classes and clinical rotations.

Back to sports analogies. Running a 4.3 in the 40 is great. But it doesn't by itself mean you can play.