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Appl Clin Inform 2023; 14(05): 973-980
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1777000
Research Article

Creation and Evaluation of a Clinical Informatics Match: Initial Findings

Jonathan D. Hron
1   Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
2   Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
,
Christoph U. Lehmann
3   Clinical Informatics Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
,
S. Wesley Long
4   Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, United States
,
Natalie M. Pageler
5   Division of Clinical Informatics, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, United States
,
Joseph Kannry
6   Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
,
Bruce Levy
7   Steele Institute for Health Innovations, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Danville, Pennsylvania, United States
,
Michael G. Leu
8   Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, United States
9   Division of Clinical Informatics, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
10   IT Services, UW Medicine Information Technology Services, Seattle, Washington, United States
11   Information Technology Department, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Washington, United States
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Abstract

Background Clinical Informatics (CI) fellowship programs utilize the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) to gather applications but until recently used an American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) member-developed, simultaneous offer–acceptance process to match fellowship applicants to programs. In 2021, program directors collaborated with the AMIA to develop a new match to improve the process.

Objective Describe the results of the first 2 years of the match and address opportunities for improvement.

Methods We obtained applicant data for fellowship applicants in 2021 and 2022 from the ERAS and match data for the same years from the AMIA. We analyzed our data using descriptive statistics.

Results There were 159 unique applicants over the 2-year period. Applicants submitted 2,178 applications with a median of 10 per applicant (interquartile range [IQR] 3–20). One hundred and four applicants (65.4%) participated in the match and ranked a median of seven programs (2–12). Forty-two programs in 2021 and 47 programs in 2022 offered a combined total 153 positions in the match. Participating programs ranked a median of eight applicants per year (IQR 5–11). Of participating applicants, 95 (91.3%) successfully matched and of those 66 (69.5%) received their top choice. Thirty-two programs (76.2%) matched at least one candidate in 2021 and 33 programs (70.2%) matched at least one candidate in 2022. In both years, 24 programs filled all available slots (57.1% in 2021 and 51.1% in 2022).

Conclusion Applicants were extremely successful in the new match, which successfully addressed most of the challenges of the simultaneous offer–acceptance process identified by program directors. However, applicant attrition resulted in a quarter of programs going unmatched. Although many programs still filled slots outside the match, fellowship slots may remain unfilled while the CI practice pathway remains open.

Keywords

accreditation and licensure - clinical informatics - education - physician - workforce

Human Subject Protections

The Boston Children's Hospital Institutional Review Boards deemed our study exempt from human subject review.




Publication History

Received: 14 August 2023

Accepted: 12 October 2023

Article published online:
13 December 2023

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