For the fourth consecutive year, 100 percent of the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine Class of 2017 landed residencies in this year’s National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and National Matching Service (NMS).
That’s especially significant given that nationwide, a record-high 35,969 medical students vied for 31,757 positions. Results were announced on March 17.
“This year’s strong residency match outcome is a testament to the quality of the students’ performances in the classroom, on their board examinations and in their respective rotations,” said Gregory Christiansen, D.O., dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Those results reflect DMU’s commitment to producing physicians in these primary care specialties.”
Gregory Christiansen, D.O., COM Dean
Fourth-year medical students typically spend the nine months leading up to the match by applying to residency programs and rank-ordering their top choices. Meanwhile, residency programs are creating their rank-ordered lists of top students. The NRMP and the NMS then use an algorithm that accounts for both sets of rank-ordered lists to optimally pair students with residency programs.
This year’s match results were good news for Iowa: 30 members of the class, or 14 percent, will train in residencies in the state. Of those students, 22 will enter family medicine or internal medicine residencies. That mirrored the overall class. In the 35 states where they matched in residencies, nearly half of the class members will enter family medicine or internal medicine programs.
“Those results reflect DMU’s commitment to producing physicians in these primary care specialties,” Christiansen said.
Last October, in its annual national study, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) praised DMU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine for that commitment to primary care. DMU was rated first in the nation among all medical schools for producing primary care physicians. The University had the most graduates in number and in percentage enter the primary care specialties of family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics.
AAFP reports that primary care has been demonstrated to improve health care outcomes and reduce health disparities while reducing per capita costs.
At the same time, DMU placed students this year in a variety of highly competitive residencies in anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, neurology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery and radiology.
