Delay in the residents’ choice for General and Digestive Surgery: Analysis of the period 2018–2022

Introduction

Every year hundreds of medical residents choose their specialization in various surgical fields. However, these numbers have been poorly analyzed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the selection of General and Digestive Surgery by medical residents and compare these results with the selection of other surgical specialties.

Methods

Cross-sectional observational study. The data from the selection of the medical residents from surgical specialties and the top 10 most demanded specialties between the years 2018 and 2022 were included. An analysis of adjusted ranking numbers based on the number of available positions was also conducted.

Results

The number of available positions in General and Digestive Surgery increased by 17.7% during the study period. However, the selection of our specialty has been delayed, with a median ranking number of 2419 (IQR: 1621–3284) in 2018, and 3484 (IQR: 2306–4156) in 2022 (p: .000). These differences remained significant after adjusting for the number of available positions (p: .000).

The choice of Urology, Thoracic Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery, Gastroenterology, and Paediatrics also declined during this period, while Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Anesthesiology, and Endocrinology improved their numbers.

Conclusion

The choice of General and Digestive Surgery has been delayed according to the data from the MIR selection of 2018–2022. The increase in the number of available positions has not been associated with a proportional increase in demand.