National Survey of Internal Medicine Residency Programs of Their 1st-Year Experience With the Electronic Residency Application Service and National Resident Match Program Changes

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Abstract
The residency recruitment and selection process is a critical one for residency programs and medical students. In 1999, internal medicine programs conducted the residency match on the Web for the first time using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). The authors wished to study the impact of this change on house staff recruitment and quality of match. A Web-based survey with e-mail, paper, and fax reminders was sent to all 407 internal medicine residency programs after the 1999 match. Eighty-six percent of reporting programs found the screening of applicants easier. The overall number of applicants varied greatly (48% of programs reported more applicants; 32% reported fewer). The quality of final match was rated the same as previous years by 47%, better by 38%, and worse by 15%. The transition to ERAS was successful in internal medicine. However, there are several areas that were identified that will improve the ERAS process as it evolves.