People Like Me or Patients Like Me?: How Underrepresented Minorities Choose Medical Residency Programs

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 21. Medical Education

Abstract

The residency application and match process represent one of the most formative and consequential transitions in a physician’s career. Each year, thousands of medical students must decide where they will train for several years, making it a decision that will shape their professional development, wellbeing, and career trajectory. While the process is intended to ‘match’ applicants and programs based on mutual preferences, it is influenced by contextual, cultural, and personal factors. Applicants face a complex and deeply personal task in selecting a residency program. Beyond choosing a specialty, they must also assess which residency programs best align with their goals, values, and sense of “fit”. These judgments have implications not only for the applicants themselves but also for residency programs seeking to attract, support, and retain residents.

In this study, we explored whether, why, and how recruiting tactics influenced URiM residents in their program ranking using semi-structured interviews. We interviewed 32 URiM (i.e., Black, Latinx, Multiracial, and Indigenous) residents from various specialties and across the U.S. Findings from this study shed light on how applicants perceive the recruiting efforts of the programs they ranked and how they make decisions about program selection. More importantly, our findings shed light on key differences in the ways that members of various underrepresented groups view their identities and the influences those identities has on their future educational and career-based decisions.

Authors

• Nicole Perez, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Laura Ellen Hirshfield, University of Illinois at Chicago