COVID-19 and the Integrated Plastic Surgery Match: An Update on Match Trends by Applicant Location

Overview

Journal Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open

Specialty General Surgery

Date 2022 Sep 29

PMID 36172061

Authors

Sara Kebede

Troy Marxen

Anjali Om

Ngafla Bakayoko

Albert Losken

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Methods: Integrated plastic surgery match results and applicants' home institutions from the 2022 match cycle were determined using publicly available data. Geographic data from this cycle were then compared with pre-COVID-19 match cycles (2016-2020) and the COVID-19-affected 2021 match cycle.

Results: Eighty percent (n = 68) of US integrated plastic surgery programs were included in this study. In 2022, 18.42% of applicants matched at their home institution compared with 25.12% in 2021. There was no significant difference in home, state, or regional match rates between 2022 and the five cycles preceding the pandemic (2016-2020). Combining these data to reflect the non-COVID-19-affected cycles (2016-2020 and 2022) and comparing to the COVID-19-affected cycle (2021), a significant difference in rates of home matches ( = 0.0395) was identified.

Conclusions: A significant increase in home institution match rates was not noted during the 2022 cycle. This return to pre-COVID-19 rates is likely attributed to the loosening of restrictions and more opportunities for interaction between applicants and programs outside of their home institution.

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