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To the Editor: The Research Letter by Dr Ebell¹ suggested that US senior medical student interest in specialties is related to mean specialty salary. However, Ebell used as his measure of interest the US senior fill rate in each specialty in the match program. In my view, this is an incorrect metric of interest because it depends entirely on the denominator (how many positions are offered within a specialty). The number of positions available in a specialty has nothing to do with student interest but rather reflects local needs of hospitals, specialty interests, and other factors unrelated to students.

A better gauge of student interest is the numerator (how many students selected the specialty). For example, in looking at the Figure in the study by Ebell, it may appear that no one is going into family medicine. However, more US seniors chose this residency specialty than all but 2 other . . . [Full Text of this Article]

William Hueston, MD
huestowj@musc.edu
Department of Family Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston

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Future Salary and US Residency Fill Rate Revisited
Mark H. Ebell
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