JAMA: Manipulation and the Match

[tibor75]

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I'd like to say I'm shocked, but I'm not. Some of the guys I've interviewed with back in the day were so scummy...

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/302/12/1266?home

 

[ChiDO]

excerpt or summary would be nice for those w/o access. thanks!

 

[Frugal Traveler]

I cannot provide the full article due to copyright issues... but here is the excerpt that the JAMA website gives:

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Manipulation and the Match. [FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif] JAMA. 2009;302(12):1266-1267. .

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.[/SIZE].

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) was established in 1952 to remedy the increasingly competitive process of applying for internships, one in which high-pressure tactics essentially forced medical students to accept appointments as early as their second year of school.1 Now, participants make decisions on a uniform schedule, without time pressure, and matches are made with an algorithm that allows participants to rank their actual preferences without affecting the probability of matches lower on their list. The NRMP requires that all members sign a Match Participation Agreement (MPA), which includes restrictions on persuasion. For example, applicants and programs may volunteer their interest in each other, but one party cannot solicit a commitment from the other or suggest that ranking is contingent on such a commitment. However, both my experience and the medical education literature suggest that this injunction is often violated. .
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]As a former member of . . ..

 

[ChiDO]

I cannot provide the full article due to copyright issues... but here is the excerpt that the JAMA website gives:


[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]. ..

Thanks. Don't have access to the newest issue at my school as of yet...

 

[error404]

I like the numbers, because it's nice to put actual survey data to the experiences... but I'm just not suprised that applicants and PDs feel lied to during the process. Or that violations are common...

Is the goal of this article to share the effects of the current system with those who weren't in it?

 

[SocialistMD]

Is the goal of this article to share the effects of the current system with those who weren't in it?

It is an editorial by the outgoing medical student rep to the NRMP. Basically, he's saying we have rules that people don't seem to follow, that both sides know they aren't followed, and that no one is willing to do anything about it (including the author).

 

[dragonfly99]

I feel like this problem starts with the programs, and if want to make any headway on this then we'd need to take comprehensive surveys of participants in the Match (after the completion of the Match for the year) and have them rat out the programs that are using shady tactics, such as telling applicants they won't match there unless they rank that program #1, etc. The problem is that a lot of programs don't out and out say such things, just things like, "We only want people who truly want to be here, so if you are interested, you need to be in contact with u...FYI all the people we've matched here in the past few years tell us they had us #1 on their rank lists". I also think a comprehensive survey of Match applicants to find out the prevalence of questions about race/ethnic origin, religion and marital status, etc. would be very interesting. I feel like programs in the Match pretty much fly under the radar and aren't subject to the same rules that apply to most other employers.