Nationwide Analysis of Pipelining and Medical School Affiliation in the US Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency Match.

ABSTRACT:

Background

"Pipelining" is a phenomenon whereby a residency program repeatedly matches individuals from the same medical school across several application cycles. This is potentially disadvantageous to qualified applicants without a history of institutional legacy at their schools. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of pipelining by US integrated plastic surgery residency programs to promote an equitable playing field for future applicants.

Methods

An analysis of every Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited US integrated plastic surgery residency program was conducted. The graduated medical schools of 2229 current and former plastic surgery residents were collected. Pipeline scores were defined as the ratio of total residents to number of unique med

SUBMITTER: Hannoudi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12784003 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature