'Match Day' For Medical Students Highlights Importance Of Residency Programs As U.S. Faces Growing Physician Shortage

Arlington TX

17 March, 2022

8:08 PM

Description

By Alexis Allison, Fort Worth Report March 17, 2022 Dr. Ricardo Albarran-Anguiano was in the throes of applying to residency programs last spring when he received the gift basket: a bundle of goods reminiscent of Fort Worth, including a jar of Mrs. Renfro's salsa. Every medical student who'd earned an interview with the internal medicine residency received one, according to Michael Sanborn, president of Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth. The program, a collaboration between the hospital and the TCU School of Medicine, was seeking its inaugural class of residents and wanted to make them feel welcome. The salsa helped. For Albarran-Anguiano, who went to medical school in Arkansas, the gesture was a friendly touch — a display of recognition and encouragement amid a trying season for medical students. When Match Day rolled around in March 2021, Albarran-Anguiano received good news: He and the Baylor Scott & White program had chosen each other. For medical students, Match Day — the day medical students nationwide find out where they'll train next — is a culmination of ceremony and sweat, a sometimes bittersweet midpoint along what is usually a seven-or-more-year journey. For residency programs, it's an annual opportunity to make headway against the nation's growing physician shortage. And for Fort Worth, it's a precursor to sharpened standards of care in area hospitals, a first step toward drawing physicians like Albarran-Anguiano to remain in the area long term. He's planning on it. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.