RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Selection for family medicine residency training in Canada
JF Canadian Family Physician
JO Can Fam Physician
FD The College of Family Physicians of Canada
SP 129
OP 134
VO 64
IS 2
A1 Keith Wycliffe-Jones
A1 Kent G. Hecker
A1 Shirley Schipper
A1 Maureen Topps
A1 Jeanine Robinson
A1 Tasnima Abedin
YR 2018
UL http://www.cfp.ca/content/64/2/129.abstract
AB Objective To examine the consistency of the ranking of Canadian and US medical graduates who applied to Canadian family medicine (FM) residency programs between 2007 and 2013.Design Descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting Family medicine residency programs in Canada.Participants All 17 Canadian medical schools allowed access to their anonymized program rank-order lists of students applying to FM residency programs submitted to the first iteration of the Canadian Resident Matching Service match from 2007 to 2013.Main outcome measures The rank position of medical students who applied to more than 1 FM residency program on the rank-order lists submitted by the programs. Anonymized ranking data submitted to the Canadian Resident Matching Service from 2007 to 2013 by all 17 FM residency programs were used. Ranking data of eligible Canadian and US medical graduates were analyzed to assess the within-student and between-student variability in rank score. These covariance parameters were then used to calculate the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all programs. Program descriptions and selection criteria were also reviewed to identify sites with similar profiles for subset ICC analysis.Results Between 2007 and 2013, the consistency of ranking by all programs was fair at best (ICC = 0.34 to 0.39). The consistency of ranking by larger urban-based sites was weak to fair (ICC = 0.23 to 0.36), and the consistency of ranking by sites focusing on training for rural practice was weak to moderate (ICC = 0.16 to 0.55).Conclusion In most cases, there is a low level of consistency of ranking of students applying for FM training in Canada. This raises concerns regarding fairness, particularly in relation to expectations around equity and distributive justice in selection processes.