In this episode of EM Match Advice, our panel takes on the tough issues of 2021. Specifically we discuss the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Workforce Study [1] that projects fewer jobs for emergency physicians and the hot-off-the-press ERAS data showing a drop in the number of EM residency applicants, compared to 2 years ago. Did one cause the other? In this podcast, Dr. Mike Gisondi and Dr. Michelle Lin host an esteemed panel of 3 program directors, Dr. Cassandra Bradby (East Carolina University), Dr. Adam Kellogg (Baystate Health), and Dr. Craig Krausz (Saint Louis University).

The Numbers

  • The ACEP Workforce Study projects a whopping 7,845 excess of emergency physicians in 2030 who could be left without jobs. And our very smart medical students have been eyeing those numbers carefully.
  • While EM is still an attractive specialty for many medical students, some enter this year’s residency application season with a trepidation that hasn’t been seen before. And a good deal of  students clearly chose a specialty other than EM, with approximately 200 fewer applicants projected this cycle, compared to 2 years ago. Most of that drop came from students at LCME-accredited medical schools. [Silver lining: These numbers may make for a buyer’s market that greatly favors the students in the upcoming Match.]
  • Below is a summary of the ERAS data, pulled from their downloadable Excel data. Note that these data were collected on October 3 of each year and only summarize data from EM-only residencies (not EM/IM or EM/FM).
Characteristic2016-172017-182018-192019-202020-21*2021-22
Number of EM residency applicants3,2203,3303,3383,601x3,408
Average number of submitted applications in EM49.153.3557.8659.75x61.23
Average of applications received per EM program883.3866.6850.82874.58x772.82
AAMC’s ERAS data for 2016-2022 for the specialty of Emergency Medicine, collected on October 3 of each year
(* Because of the pandemic, the 2020-21 season’s timeline was shifted later by about 1 month, resulting in non-comparable data.)

EM Match Advice Podcast

Additional Resources

Read and Listen to the other EM Match Advice Episodes

Blog posts: https://www.aliem.com/em-match-advice-series/

References

  1. Marco CA, Courtney DM, Ling LJ, et al. The Emergency Medicine Physician Workforce: Projections for 2030 [published online ahead of print, 2021 Aug 2]. Ann Emerg Med. 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.05.029. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34353653.
Michael Gisondi, MD

Michael Gisondi, MD

Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Education
Department of Emergency Medicine
Stanford University
Editor, ALiEM EM Match Advice series
Michelle Lin, MD
ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Michelle Lin, MD

@M_Lin

Professor of Emerg Med at UCSF-Zuckerberg SF General. ALiEM Founder @aliemteam #PostitPearls at https://t.co/50EapJORCa Bio: https://t.co/7v7cgJqNEn
Michelle Lin, MD