Does the geographic region of plastic surgery away rotations influence residency match success by region?

[INTRODUCTION] Integrated plastic surgery is consistently one of the most competitive residency specialties to successfully match. Students, advisors, and mentors are constantly looking for strategies to increase the odds of successfully matching. Away rotations (AR) give students and residency programs a chance to experience each other and get a gage of program fit and gives the student ability to show interest in a geographic region. The purpose of this study is to determine if completing an away rotation in a specific geographic region increases the chances of matching there.

[METHODS] U.S. medical student seniors from 2018-2023 applying into integrated plastic surgery were analyzed. The Texas STAR survey was used as a data source. Data was collected on the number of applications, interviews, AR, applicant home region, and match outcome and stratified into 4 regions, central, northeast, south, and west based on AAMC program listings. Applicant statistics such as standardized exam scores were also collected. Linear and logistic regression were conducted assess associations with increased interviews and successfully matching in specific geographic regions. χ² and independent T-tests were used to assess associations between match outcome and applicant statistics.

[RESULTS] 401 applicants with 28561 applications were included for analysis. Match success was 78.3%. Most applicants completed at least 1 AR (85.9%) with a mean of 2.04 per applicant. Completing more AR in a region resulted in significantly more interview offers in that area, with an average increase of 1.3 interviews for each AR completed (p<.001). Completing more AR and having more interviews in a particular region increased the odds of matching in that region (p<.05). Number of interviews, completing an AR, USMLE Step 2 score, alpha omega alpha membership, and cumulative quartile rank were associated with increased match success.

[CONCLUSION] Completing AR in specific geographic regions increased the number of interviews and chances of matching in the same region.