Making the match and breaking it: values, perceptions, and obstacles of trainees applying into physician-scientist training programs

BACKGROUND: Replenishing the physician-scientist workforce constitutes a central mission of medical education, but the loss of qualified trainees to non-academic positions remains an ongoing threat. Among the barriers facing physician-scientists today is the game-like model of U.S. medical residency matching through the National Research Matching Program (NRPM), which applies several assumptions regarding the comparability of applicant qualifications, cohort size, and the institutional breadth of applicants’ training needs. METHODS: The current report therefore summarizes the survey-based views and experiences of physician-scientist trainees obtained following the 2021–2022 application cycle for research-oriented residency programs, or physician-scientist training programs (PSTPs). From among this small cohort of applicants, we obtained survey-based feedback of 27 PSTP applicants across 17 U.S. medical universities, among whom 85% (23/27) matched into a PSTP. RESULTS: Among these PSTP applicants, 25/27 (93%) recognized “scientific community” as the most important feature of a postgraduate training program, with applicants identifying as female placing a higher value on the program’s infrastructure of personal and/or family support. Most (18/27) respondents found “waiting for interviews” as the most stressful phase of their application cycle, and roughly half of all respondents encountered at least one NRMP policy violation through post-interview communication. Specifically, 93% (25/27) respondents were contacted by at least one PSTP following interviews, and 1/3 of them admitted to feeling pressured into sharing their ranking preferences. CONCLUSION: We highlight many previously unrecognized priorities among applicants to PSTPs, which include fostering community among its trainees and reinforcing structured mentoring. We uncover an inconsistency among PSTPs regarding the post-interview process, which represents an opportunity to better support applicants seeking to gauge programs according to their clinical, scientific, and academic interests as physician-scientists, while still adhering to NRMP policies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04736-w.