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¡Ay Caramba!

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More from the AAMC: I read a troubling piece recently regarding a bizarre problem Puerto Rican medical students are having. Apparently, some folks don’t understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Some Puerto Rican students report they are being misidentified as international medical graduates (IMGs).

The crux of the matter is that Puerto Rican medical schools are – like other U.S. allopathic medical schools – accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. On the other hand, many medical schools in other parts of the Caribbean are not LCME-accredited and graduate IMGs. 

IMGs have a tougher time matching. In the last cycle, U.S.- citizen IMGs matched at a rate of 67% and non-U.S.-citizen IMGs matched at a rate of 58.5%. On the other hand, U.S. MD graduates matched at a rate of 93.5%. Thus, being misidentified as an IMG is to the detriment of Puerto Rican medical students in the Match.

See Bridget Balch’s interesting article with more details here.

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The Future Is Now: Using AI to Evaluate Medical School Applicants

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The AAMC recently published a piece regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assess medical school applications: Multiple institutions, including the Zucker School of Medicine and NYU, use AI for initial screening of medical school applications. Others, like the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and GW, are developing AI capabilities to pilot within the next couple of years.

Admissions officers say the amount of time necessary to review the thousands of applications they receive is overwhelming and that they can teach AI – using years of successful applications to the school – how to effectively assess candidates. Of course, one big downside is that if an AI platform is based on past human decisions, it will inherently propagate and reflect previous biases that produced admissions results.

See the AAMC article here.

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More Medical Students, Fewer Applicants, and a 3.86 (!) GPA Mean

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The AAMC published information recently demonstrating several trends about last year’s cycle:

1) The number of medical students has expanded because of new medical schools. First-year matriculants increased 0.8% from the previous academic year to 23,048.

2) On the other hand, the number of applicants decreased for the third year in a row. There was a 1.2% decline versus 4.7% the previous year and 11.6% two years ago. Remember, though, that there had been a huge increase in numbers during the height of the COVID pandemic.

3) Underrepresented minority group matriculant numbers generally declined.

4) What impressed me was that the current incoming class had a mean GPA of 3.86. Wow!

You can see all of the numbers and the AAMC’s conclusions here.

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Some Medical Institutions are Offering their Trainees Coaching

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I was just reading an interesting piece by the AAMC’s Stacy Weiner on coaching for medical students and residents. The idea is that – beyond advising – students can benefit from the attention of skilled listeners to help them develop individualized plans to achieve short- and long-term goals. 

In the article, Dr. Dana Dunne, the director of coaching at Yale School of Medicine explains, “A coach mostly asks you questions. ‘How do you know when you’re doing well?’ ‘What does success look like for you?’ ‘What has helped you make decisions in the past?’” The AAMC article also highlights Colorado University’s Better Together program. The Better Together website addresses assistance with issues like imposter syndrome, time management, perfectionism, and burnout.

What a great opportunity! All things being equal, choosing an institution that has accessible coaching makes sense when you’re considering which medical school or residency to attend.

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Two Hundred New Residency Slots Open

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For a long time there has existed a bottleneck in the physician training system with more medical students graduating than residency spots available. This phenomenon has been one of the contributors to the physician shortage in the United States. 

In an effort to begin to relieve the problem, in 2021 Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act Section 126 to expand the number of Medicare-supported residency slots. 

Last month the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a list of hospitals that were awarded 200 new residency positions under the Act. About seven in 10 of the positions are going to primary care and psychiatry training programs. 

You can read an American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) news article about the new slots here. 

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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