Abstract
Purpose :
The current system for pairing medical students to residency programs has been relatively unchanged for half a century. The residency matching algorithms, including SF Match for ophthalmology, are based on Gale-Shapley, a ‘stable-marriage’ method that favors applicant outcomes. We sought to develop a new matching algorithm (ResOpt) and compared it to Gale-Shapley.
Methods :
We obtained anonymized rank lists and match data for applicants and programs in ophthalmology from SF Match between 2011 to 2019. The matches of SF Match and ResOpt were compared in terms of the average rank of matches for both applicants and programs, the percentage of applicants matching to their top choices, and the change in match composition.
Results :
For 2011 to 2019, ResOpt always fully matches and avoids the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program. In addition, ResOpt consistently matches more applicants to their most preferred programs (Figure 1a). Under ResOpt, 78.7% (3308/4205) of applicants matched their top 3 choices compared to 71.5% (2991/4181) under SF Match. Furthermore, ResOpt achieves better average ranks for both applicants and programs (Figure 1b and 1c), without drastically changing the match composition (Figure 2a). Rank composition analysis (Figure 2b) shows the applicants whose outcomes improve often improve by multiple ranks, while applicants who worsen mostly drop 1 rank.
Conclusions :
ResOpt is a credible alternative as a matching algorithm, as it consistently improves matches for most applicants and programs.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.