Home Program Matching in Neurosurgical Residency Programs: A 7-Year Study

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine home program matching percentage (staying in a program affiliated with one's medical school) for each neurosurgical residency program in the United States. Secondarily, it was to elucidate both program-level and resident characteristics associated with home program matching. Methods: Demographic and bibliometric characteristics were collected for 1572 residents in U.S.-based and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited neurosurgery programs over the 2014–2020 match period using publicly available websites. Program characteristics were collected, including number of clinical faculty, top 20 Doximity research ranking, top 10 Doximity reputation ranking, top 10 U.S. News department ranking, affiliation with a U.S. News top 10 medical school, and geographic region. Programs were ranked according to home program matching percentage, and associations were statistically evaluated. Results: The average home program matching percentage per residency was 18.6%. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia retained the largest percentage of its own medical students with a home program matching percentage of 57.14%. From the resident frame of reference, only a higher preresidency H-index (3.7 ± 4.0 vs. 3.2 ± 3.7, P = 0.033) was significantly associated with home program matching. From a program perspective, program size (standardized β = 0.234, P = 0.006), Doximity research (standardized β = 0.206, P = 0.031), Doximity reputation (standardized β = 0.196, P = 0.040), and U.S. News program rankings (standardized β = 0.200, P = 0.036) were all significantly associated with home program matching. Overall home program matching percentage remained relatively constant over the 2014–2020 time period. Conclusions: The results of this study delineate home program matching patterns on a program-by-program level for U.S. neurosurgical residency programs.