Patel Anooj A, Wong Michael S, Nguyen Vu T, Janis Jeffrey E
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio.
Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, Calif.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2021 Mar 22;9(3):e3508. doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000003508. eCollection 2021 Mar.
Plastic surgery is one of the most competitive specialties to match, with integrated plastic surgery having the highest rate of unmatched applicants in all categorical specialties. Unmatched applicants face difficult challenges, especially because there is a lack of data to help inform and guide both reapplicants and their advisors.
A national survey targeting plastic surgery applicants to both integrated and independent tracks from 2014 to 2020 was conducted in August 2020 to identify reapplicants, their application characteristics, and their outcomes.
Eighteen of the 54 (33.3%) integrated reapplicants responded to the survey, as well as 7 of the 42 (16.7%) independent reapplicants. Fifty percent of integrated reapplicants and 43% of independent reapplicants successfully eventually matched. For integrated reapplicants, the mean (SD) number of first cycle invites was the greatest predictor of eventual match success, 9.00 (5.93) invites for reapplicants that eventually successfully matched compared with 2.89 (2.89) for those that remained unmatched, = 0.025. Integrated reapplicants obtained on average 2.47 less invites during the reapplicant cycle compared with the initial cycle, 0.046. A Fisher exact test revealed no differences in match outcomes of those integrated reapplicants who spent time in between cycles pursuing research compared with a preliminary surgical year, = 0.99.
Reapplication to both integrated and independent plastic surgery may result in worse matching outcomes compared with the initial match. Applicants should attempt to preemptively address potential initial application weaknesses as reapplication after a failed initial attempt may carry disadvantages.
整形外科是竞争最激烈的专科之一，在所有分类专科中，综合整形外科未匹配申请者的比例最高。未匹配的申请者面临着艰巨的挑战，尤其是因为缺乏数据来帮助重新申请者及其顾问做出决策和提供指导。
2020年8月，针对2014年至2020年申请综合和独立整形外科项目的申请者进行了一项全国性调查，以确定重新申请者、他们的申请特征及其结果。
54名综合整形外科重新申请者中有18名（33.3%）回复了调查，42名独立整形外科重新申请者中有7名（16.7%）回复了调查。50%的综合整形外科重新申请者和43%的独立整形外科重新申请者最终成功匹配。对于综合整形外科重新申请者，首次申请周期收到的邀请数量均值（标准差）是最终匹配成功的最大预测因素，最终成功匹配的重新申请者平均收到9.00（5.93）次邀请，而未匹配者为2.89（2.89）次，P = 0.025。与初始申请周期相比，综合整形外科重新申请者在重新申请周期平均收到的邀请少2.47次，P = 0.046。Fisher精确检验显示，在申请周期之间花时间进行研究的综合整形外科重新申请者与先进行初步外科实习年的申请者相比，匹配结果没有差异，P = 0.99。
与首次申请相比，重新申请综合和独立整形外科项目可能会导致更差的匹配结果。申请者应尝试预先解决潜在的初始申请弱点，因为首次申请失败后重新申请可能会有不利之处。
