Is it time for a reduction in radiology residency positions?

According to a recent study in Academic Radiology, supply in the radiology job market significantly outweighs demand, and residency positions should be reduced as a result.

Mark E. Sharafinski, Jr., MD, Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals department of radiology, and colleagues studied National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) data in radiology and several other specialties from 1991 to 2015, also reviewing various surveys and peer-reviewed commentaries.

Historically, the authors explained, the radiology job market has been influenced by technology, policy-driven reimbursements, and the overall economy. Demand has been up and down in the last 25 years, and a severe downward trend began around 2006.

That trend has continued in recent years, the authors wrote, due to both an increase in radiologist efficiency and a decrease in imaging volumes, but the number of residency positions has remained high.

According to NRMP data, the total number of applicants for radiology residency positions dropped from 1,431 in 2010 to 1,141 in 2015, but the number of residency positions increased from 1,090 to 1,156. Applicants are decreasing, yet positions are going in the opposite direction.

This, the authors wrote, is why residency positions need to be reduced.

“The radiology job market is currently oversupplied, primarily a result of increasing residency positions despite indicators of decreasing demand,” Sharafinski and colleagues wrote. “The percentage of residency positions filled by domestic graduates has decreased during the same period, suggesting that medical student interest is responsive to the market. Other specialties, particularly pathology, demonstrate the dangers of chronic oversupply. We advocate a reduction of radiology residency positions such that supply closely approximates demand without exceeding it.”

Additional discussion about reducing residency spots in radiology can be read here.