Swanstrom LL et al. (2006) Bringing order to the chaos: developing a matching process for minimally invasive and gastrointestinal postgraduate fellowships. Ann Surg 243: 431–435

Surgery residents often request postgraduate training in gastrointestinal and minimally invasive surgery, in order to achieve competence in the more technically advanced procedures in this rapidly evolving field. The strong demand for training in gastrointestinal and minimally invasive surgery prompted the creation of many fellowship programs, but until recently there was little control over the quality of the training offered. Most programs are now monitored by the Fellowship Council (which at the time of the first match was known as the Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship Council). The process of assuring high-quality postgraduate training has taken another step forward with the implementation of a fellowship match, conducted by the National Resident Matching Program (an independent body that manages several other fellowship matches, as well as all resident and medical student matches). The match aims to link the best-ranked applicants with the best-ranked programs.

The inaugural 2004 match involved 130 applicants and 113 positions in 77 programs; 99 applicants were successfully matched on match day, with another 14 finding a match on the following day (17 applicants did not match). Both applicants and program directors reported satisfaction with the match, although a quarter of applicants felt that program descriptions should be more detailed, and many suggested that the interview process could be more efficient. These concerns have been addressed in subsequent matches.

The need for, and popularity of, the fellowship match seems to be confirmed: the 2005 fellowship match involved 186 applicants vying for 154 positions in 95 programs.