New Orleans–One hundred four of 178 LSUHSC graduating medical students participating in the National Resident Match Program chose to remain in Louisiana to complete their medical training. That’s about 60% of the class, as high as last year. The LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans residency programs also did very well accepting 132 new residents who will begin their programs next summer.

The Match, conducted annually by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), is the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at U.S. teaching hospitals and academic health centers. The choices of the students are entered into a software program as are the choices of the institutions with residency programs. All U.S. graduating medical students found out at the same time today where they “matched” and where they will spend their years of residency training. There are always some programs and students who do not get their choices in the Match. Positions unfilled from the Match are then filled in the “Scramble” when unmatched graduates are placed in programs with unfilled positions.

“I believe that the high number of LSU graduates choosing to remain in Louisiana again this year and those who chose LSU residency programs is a testament to the quality of both the undergraduate and graduate medical education programs here at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. “We’re gratified by their confidence in us and our programs.”

“This year about 60% of our students again chose to remain in Louisiana for their postgraduate medical education and training,” said Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the School of Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. “And we are again pleased to provide the majority of new physicians for our state. We are delighted to keep so many of our own graduates here at home while also attracting quality residents from other schools.”

LSUHSC New Orleans based primary care residency programs all filled in the Match and Scramble. The percentage of LSUHSC medical graduates going into primary care is 44% this year. Primary Care specialties included are Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Medicine-Preliminary, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Medicine-Pediatrics. Ob-GYN is not always included in primary care data; however, in some Louisiana communities the only physician is an OB-GYN. “Our very successful Rural Physicians Program is addressing the need for greater numbers of primary care physicians for our state,” notes Dr. Nelson.

Of the 48 accredited residency and fellowship programs sponsored by LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, 25 participated in the Main NRMP Match whose results were released today. They are Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Family Practice (Kenner, Bogalusa and Lake Charles), Internal Medicine, Medicine-Preliminary, Neurological Surgery, Neurology, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radiology, General Surgery, 3 Surgery-Preliminary Programs, Medicine-Pediatrics, Medicine-Emergency Medicine, and Medicine-Dermatology. LSUHSC medical graduates training in other states will be going to such prestigious programs as Harvard/Massachusetts General, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Duke, UCLA, University of Alabama-Birmingham, UC San Diego, and Vanderbilt, among others.

The National Residency Matching Program was established in 1952 to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with residency program choices of applicants. The program provides a common time for the announcement of the appointments, as well as an agreement for programs and applicants to honor the commitment to offer and accept an appointment if a match results. National studies have found that a high number of physicians set up their permanent practices in the areas where they have completed their residency programs. Therefore, match results figure prominently in Louisiana’s physician work force. The supply of physicians practicing in Louisiana not only affects access to care, but also local economies and the larger state economy. Residency programs begin on July 1, 2011.

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LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates Louisiana’s health care professionals. The state’s academic health leader, LSUHSC New Orleans consists of a School of Medicine, the state’s only School of Dentistry, Louisiana’s only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, and the only School of Nursing within an academic health center in the State of Louisiana. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu and http://www.twitter.com/LSUHSCHealth. # # # Leslie Capo Director of Information Services LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Office: 504-568-4806 Cell: 504-452-9166 lcapo@lsuhsc.edu

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