446 Am J Health-Syst Pharm—Vol 61 Mar 1, 2004

The Q & A column features ASHP staff responses to inquiries from pharmacists in health systems. Throughthis column, more practitioners can benefit from the answers prepared by the staff. The column may alsoinclude answers solicited from others, including government agencies such as OSHA, FDA, and DEA.

Pharmacists with questions for ASHP should write directly to the appropriate staff member, not AJHP.Frequently called extensions are listed in every issue of AJHP on the page after the Table of Contents.

Q & A

ASHP Resident Matching Program:How does it work?

: I am a residency program director for a newly emerging

pharmacy practice program. Can you provide me with some

information on how ASHP’s Resident Matching Program works?

For example, how many applicants and residency programs participate

in the match? What is the success rate of the program? What happens to

the unmatched positions and applicants?

Q: The ASHP Resident MatchingProgram (“the Match”) is a ser-vice provided by the National

Matching Service (NMS). It is used byindividuals interested in ASHP-accreditedpharmacy practice residency programsand pharmacy practice programs thathave applied for ASHP accreditation orare ASHP accredited. The Match facili-tates the matching of residency applicantsand positions. It levels the playing fieldfor all potential residents and programsby allowing both applicants and sites torank their preferences at the same time,allowing sufficient time to complete on-site interviews. The Match links the ap-plicant’s highest preference with thesite’s highest preference. For a match tooccur, both parties must have listed eachother. For a more detailed description ofhow the match program works, go towww.natmatch.com.

Last year, approximately 3 of every 4applicants were matched with their de-sired positions. For the residency yearbeginning July 2003, 953 positions (rep-resenting 338 programs) were offered inthe Match, and 974 residents completed aMatch listing. The Match resulted in 732applicants placed in positions (represent-ing 205 programs).

After the results of the match programare announced, a list of unmatched posi-tions and residents is made available. Res-idency program directors can then offertheir unmatched positions to those candi-dates who have not matched with anyprograms.

In May 2003, ASHP conducted threesurveys to determine (1) if sites were ableto recruit for all their positions after theMatch, (2) what happened to unmatchedcandidates, and (3) why applicantsdropped out of the Match.

1. Unmatched positions survey. This sur-

vey was sent to 124 sites with unmatched

positions. It assessed the ability of sites to

fill vacant positions after the Match. A

total of 105 (85%) responses were re-

ceived. Approximately 61% of the re-

spondents had filled their vacant posi-

tions. A majority (71%) of the programs

that still had unfilled positions indicated

a desire to fill and maintain all of their

positions. Seventy-three percent of the

sites contacted potential candidates after

the Match via the unmatched candidate

list provided by NMS.

2. Unmatched candidates survey. A total

of 239 unmatched candidates were sur-

veyed and 73 (31%) responded. Of these

unmatched candidates, 59% had ob-

tained a residency position by the time of

this survey, 16% of the candidates were

pursuing residency positions, and 18%

had decided to pursue jobs rather than

residency trainings. Of the candidates

who obtained a residency after the

Match, 71% obtained a position by using

the postmatch list available from NMS.

Forty-six percent of the candidates noted

that they were contacted by programs

with vacant positions, and 10% made

contacts with sites through recommen-

dations made by their college faculty.

3. No rank-order returned survey. The

third survey was sent to applicants who

enrolled in the Match but did not return

a rank-order list to NMS. Of the 1275

applicants who originally signed up to

participate in the Match, only 974 actually

submitted a rank-order list. This survey

was sent to 293 available contacts. Of the

121 respondents, 69% had obtained a

residency position outside of the match-

ing process. Approximately two thirds

(68%) of the residencies found outside

the matching process were specialized

program residencies. (Specialized pro-

grams do not currently participate in

the matching program.) Thirty-seven

percent of the residencies were new pro-

grams, and 38% were not ASHP accred-

ited. Very few of the respondents who

decided not to pursue a residency cited

dissatisfaction with the residency op-

tions (7%) and found other opportuni-

ties more attractive or pursued other

options for financial, personal, or family

reasons.

Lisa S. Lifshin, B.S.Manager, Program ServicesCoordinator, Technician Program

DevelopmentAccreditation Services Division

Janet L. Teeters, M.S.Director, Accreditation Services Division

Colleen G. Bush, B.S.Manager, Market ResearchMarketing and Sales Office

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