Medical students not matched to residencies on the rise

For future physicians, one day can determine the course of their entire career.

After at least eight years of studying, medical students found out last Thursday if and where they will do their residency in what the profession calls Match Day on March 1, as determined by the Canadian Resident Matching Services (CaRMS).

But for an increasing number of medical students, being unmatched means they must scramble to figure out a new path, or face the fact they may never work in a clinical setting.

University of Alberta students held a Match Party last Thursday where students wrote the city and practice they were assigned to on T-shirts.

Seeing students with blank T-shirts hits hard, said Julianna Deutscher, who was assigned to emergency medicine in Toronto for five years.

“There are a lot of tears being shed in that building right now,” she said on Thursday, adding it is also hard for people who did get a match but not to a specialty that was their first choice.

Students apply to as many specialties and cities as they wish but only receive one match.

“When I look at the people who have the blank shirts, they are 100 per cent the classmates I would want to be the doctor for my mom or anybody I care about,” Deutscher said.

“It’s nothing to do with their competency. It’s just unfortunately a system that’s broken.”

The problem has been getting worse since the province has cut back on funding, said Mel Lewis, the faculty of medicine and dentistry’s associate dean of learner advocacy and wellness.

On Thursday, nine students at the University of Alberta were unmatched.

Students who didn’t get matched by CaRMS have one week to get new references, re-submit applications and conduct new interviews. There is no time to grieve, Lewis said.

After the second iteration, in 2016 there were 46 unmatched students across the country. In 2017, that number climbed to 68, Lewis said.

If medical students don’t make it in that round, they are bumped into the next year.

The University of Alberta meets with those students, gives them emotional support, and peer-topeer support.

“By 2021, the number of unmatched Canadian medical grads is expected to be 140,” Lewis said. “If you include those who weren’t matched the year before, it climbs to 190. The big concern we have is we have all of this talent and students who have spent incredible amounts of money and at least eight years of school and they’re left without a clinical career.”

In some professions, students may not get a job immediately after graduation. In medicine, without a postgraduate position, you cannot practice as a licensed physician.

“Before, the amount of residency positions exceeded the number of students,” Lewis said.

This year, there are family medicine spots left over, but all general and surgery spots have been taken.

About 25 years ago, rotating internships were done away with, meaning whatever specialty the student is matched in is what they will practice for the remainder of their careers.

It’s nothing to do with their competency. It’s just unfortunately a system that’s broken.