For a second year, more U.S. medical school seniors will train as family medicine residents, according to data released by the National Resident Matching Program. The number of seniors matched to family medicine positions rose by 11 percent over 2010.
Among primary care specialties, family medicine programs continued to experience the strongest growth in the number of positions filled by seniors. Family medicine also offered 100 more positions this year.
The two other primary care specialties that increased in popularity were pediatrics and internal medicine. Seniors matched to 1,768 of the 2,482 pediatric positions offered, a 3 percent increase over 2010. In internal medicine, seniors filled 2,940 of 5,121 positions, an 8 percent increase over last year.
Other specialties that increased the number of residency positions filled by seniors in this year's match included emergency medicine, anesthesiology and neurology.
The matching program is sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Hospital Association, and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.
For more information, go to www.aamc.org.
