2005 Match Day: ob.gyn. makes slight recovery; Fill rate was 94.7% following 2-year decline.(News)

More graduating seniors from U.S. medical schools were drawn to residency programs in obstetrics-gynecology this year, reversing a decline seen for several years.

Statistics released by the National Resident Matching Program show that 772 U.S. seniors matched to ob.gyn. residencies--representing a gain of 29 positions and an increase in the fill rate for U.S. seniors from 65% last year to 67.5% this year.

"This definitely reflects a slight recovery. We're excited about the improvement," Leah A. Kaufman M.D., chair of the Junior Fellows College Advisory Council with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told this newspaper.

Overall, the specialty offered 1,144 positions--2 more than last year--and filled 1,083 positions, a gain of 17 more residents than last year. The fill rate for ob.gyn. residencies was 94.7% this year.

This was reassuring news to a profession that had experienced a consecutive 2-year drop in the number of U.S. seniors matching to its residency positions. After filling 850 positions with U.S. seniors in 2002 (74.7% of positions offered), only 786 U.S. seniors matched with the specialty in 2003 (68.3% of positions offered). The number dropped even further last year, to 743 U.S. seniors (65.1% of positions offered). The decreases had prompted concerns that the medical liability crisis was driving students away from ob.gyn.

Concerted efforts to recruit students may in part be responsible for the healthier numbers in 2005, Tom Purdon, M.D., ACOG past president, told this newspaper.

"ACOG and [the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics] have been putting a lot of effort into trying to recruit medical students early on and show them the good side of ob.gyn. It's a little too early to be sure, but I do think our efforts are paying off," Dr. Purdon said.