Screams of joy extended far beyond the lobby of Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences on Friday, as members of Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2018 joined medical students all over the country for Match Day, when they learn where they will spend the next several years of their training.
The event was held on National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Match Day — capping the School’s match period.
Osteopathic medical students can choose to participate in the NRMP, the National Matching Service, the San Francisco or the military match. At the event, students wrote in where they matched to on commemorative “I Matched” signs and took photos at a designated photo booth with props, placed their mark on the map while celebrating with classmates, family and food.
“It was a wonderful day,” concluded Dr. John M. Kauffman, Jr., dean. “To see the curriculum and hard work result in an outstanding match — it truly doesn’t get any better than this.”
This year’s NRMP Match saw a record high of 4,617 applicants from osteopathic medical schools. Nearly 82 percent of those matched to PGY-1 positions — also a record high according to that organization. The AOA Match reported nearly 2,230 participants, including the military.
Campbell’s Match Day event was held on March 16. One hundred percent of the School’s expected graduating class has matched to date.
Melissa Wyche (DO ’18), expressed excitement at matching to her first choice, an Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Cape Fear Valley Health in Fayetteville, NC — one of Campbell University’s Residency Programs.
“I am thrilled to have matched into my number one choice for residency. It is a blessing to be able to continue my medical education in the state of North Carolina and continue working towards my goal of becoming an OB/GYN,” she said.
Research shows that physicians are much more likely to practice in the state where they complete their residency. More than 30 of Campbell’s soon to be graduates will stay in North Carolina to practice and 43 percent will stay in the Southeastern United States. Of those, close to 60 percent will practice in primary care; similar to 2017 when Campbell Medicine had the highest percentage of residents match into primary care of all North Carolina medical schools.
At Campbell Medicine, 100 percent of the expected graduating class has placed into residencies to date. Campbell students reported moving on to residencies at institutions such as Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio; Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia; and theUniversity of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Digital images available on Facebook.
About medical residency:
Residency is the phase of three to five years of training where physicians refine their skills in a specific area of practice – family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, etc. Students apply for residency by interviewing with various residencies during their fourth-year of medical school and submit a rank list to a national database. In the spring prior to graduating from medical school, the application process is completed for “The Match.” Upon successful completion, residents become fully licensed physicians.
According to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) by 2020, osteopathic participation in the NRMP Match is expected to grow due to the transition to the single accreditation system for graduate medical education (GME). The AOA will cease GME accreditation and former AOA programs will be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).