Internal Medicine Residency Program Responses to the Increase of Residency Applications: Differences by Program Type and Characteristics.

Background: Over the past decade, the number of residency applications has increased substantially, causing many residency programs to change their recruitment practices.

Objective: We determined how internal medicine (IM) residency programs have responded to increased applications by program type (community-based, community-based/university-affiliated, and university-based) and characteristics (percentage of international medical graduates, program size, and program director [PD] tenure).

Methods: The Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine conducted a national survey of 363 IM PDs in 2017. Five questions assessed IM program responses to the increased number of residency applications in 3 areas: changes in recruitment strategies, impact on ability to perform holistic review, and interest in 5 potential solutions. We performed a subgroup analysis to measure differences by program type and characteristics.

Results: The response rate was 64% (233 of 363). There were no differences by program type or characteristics for experiencing an increase in the number of applicants, altering recruitment practices, or conducting holistic reviews. There were moderate differences in alterations of recruitment practices by program characteristics and moderate differences in interest in proposed solutions by program type. Community-based programs had the greatest interest in a program-specific statement (59%,  = .032) and the lowest percentage in a national database of matched applicants (44%,  = .034).

Conclusions: IM residency programs are experiencing an increasing number of applications and are accommodating by adjusting recruitment practices in a variety of ways. A majority of IM PDs supported 4 of the 5 solutions, although the level of interest differed by program type.