Abstract Purpose Teaser: As the largest MD granting institution in the US, Indiana University School of Medicine has 8 regional medical campuses (RMC) and a main medical campus (MMC) in Indianapolis. RMC students comprise more than half of each class and can choose to spend 2 years or all 4 years at their RMC. While RMC students gain unique benefits compared to MMC students, concerns exist about inequities in residency match outcomes. The authors analyzed 8 years of residency placement data (2,653 students) focusing on highly competitive specialties (HCS), primary care (PC), and unmatched status. Students from RMCs and MMCs had no difference in unmatched and PC match rates. However, students who spent all 4 years at an RMC were less likely to match into HCS compared to those who spent their clinical years at the MMC. The authors discuss possible explanations for their findings and offer recommendations for schools with RMC systems. Although regional medical campus (RMC) students gain unique benefits compared with students at main medical campuses (MMCs), concerns exist about possible inequities in match outcomes. This study compared the residency match outcomes of MMC versus RMC students, focusing on unmatched status, primary care, and competitive specialties. Method This study used cumulative match data from 8 Indiana University School of Medicine graduating classes (2016-2023). Graduates were categorized based on campus attended (4 years at the MMC, 4 years at the RMCs, phase 1 preclinical education at the RMCs, and phases 2 and 3 clinical education at the MMC) and match type (primary care, non–primary care, postgraduate year 1 only, or unmatched). Non–primary care was divided into highly competitive specialties and other non–primary care specialties. Results Of the 2,478 students (93%) who matched, 937 (38%) matched into primary care, 1,470 (59%) into non–primary care, and 71 (3%) into postgraduate year 1–only positions, with 295 students (12%) entering highly competitive specialties. Highly competitive specialties constituted only 38 students (8%) who attended an RMC all 4 years versus 104 (12%) who attended an RMC for preclinical years and the MMC for clinical years (?? = 0.06, P = .02) and 151 (15%) who attended the MMC all 4 years (?? = 0.11, P .001). There was no difference for matching into a highly competitive specialty between students who spent preclinical years at an RMC and clinical years at the MMC versus those who spent all 4 years at the MMC. Conclusions Students from RMCs and the MMC had comparable rates in overall match success and entering primary care residencies. However, students who spent their clinical years at the MMC were more likely to enter highly competitive specialties versus those who spent all 4 years at an RMC.
Rusk et al. (Wed,) studied this question.