UH med students find out residency sites

Sixty-three University of Hawaii medical school students graduating in May found out Friday where they will begin their careers as resident doctors.

Known as “match day” at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, the M.D. students were paired up with 15 different specialties in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, as well as emergency medicine and OB-GYN.

The additional training is required before graduates, who will be disbursed to 13 states, can obtain board certification to practice medicine on their own. Similar ceremonies were conducted at the same time around the country.

“Match day is exciting for all med students across the nation. It’s when we open our envelopes all at the same time from West Coast to East Coast to find out where we’re going to be for residency for the next however many years,” medical student Leimomi Kanagusuku said in a video posted on the JABSOM website.

Students typically apply and interview with several residency programs and rank their preferences. On match day the students open envelopes at a ceremony to find out where they will be working for the next few years. The process is highly competitive because there are not enough residency training programs to accommodate the number of graduates each year.

A record 41,000 U.S. and international graduates competed this year for about 31,000 positions at university-affiliated hospitals. Twenty M.D. students were placed into local training programs.

“It’s kind of been like waiting for Christmas where you’re really excited but you also don’t know what’s coming, so you have that anticipation,” said M.D. student Nina Beckwith.