BACKGROUND: One goal of program directors is to attract and retain high-quality residents. It is therefore important to study attrition of residents to determine specific cohorts that may be less likely to complete residency training. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate attrition rates in targeted programs. METHOD: Surveys were sent to 540 program directors whose programs contained at least 25% international medical graduates. The program directors reported both voluntary attrition and termination rates. RESULTS: Overall attrition rates for international medical graduates and U.S. medical graduates were similar, although U.S. medical graduates were terminated at a slightly lower rate than international medical graduates (2.5% vs. 3.6%) and were somewhat more likely to transfer to other programs (9.9% and 8.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Attrition from these programs remains a small but persistent issue. In addition, the differences in termination and transfer rates for the 2 years of the study were greater than the differences in rates between U.S. and international medical graduates.
BACKGROUND: One goal of program directors is to attract and retain high-quality residents. It is therefore important to study attrition of residents to determine specific cohorts that may be less likely to complete residency training. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate attrition rates in targeted programs. METHOD: Surveys were sent to 540 program directors whose programs contained at least 25% international medical graduates. The program directors reported both voluntary attrition and termination rates. RESULTS: Overall attrition rates for international medical graduates and U.S. medical graduates were similar, although U.S. medical graduates were terminated at a slightly lower rate than international medical graduates (2.5% vs. 3.6%) and were somewhat more likely to transfer to other programs (9.9% and 8.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Attrition from these programs remains a small but persistent issue. In addition, the differences in termination and transfer rates for the 2 years of the study were greater than the differences in rates between U.S. and international medical graduates.
Authors: Jennifer A Perone; Grant T Fankhauser; Deepak Adhikari; Hemalkumar B Mehta; Majka B Woods; Douglas S Tyler; Kimberly M Brown Journal: Am J Surg Date: 2016-10-08 Impact factor: 2.565