In this segment, we will talk about the recruitment process as it relates to the NRMP and ERAS processes as well as the general timeline of events. The NRMP keeps track of yearly statistics of all applicants for the match into cardiovascular medicine and these numbers are published yearly. This slide shows the data for 2018 showing that about 1,260 applicants applied to cardiovascular disease fellowships of which 886 matched. These numbers are public and released yearly in the NRMP data book. The process for recruitment is as follows. ERAS opens. This is generally in mid-July. At that point in time, application review happens by the programs and invitations to interview are sent out by the programs in the late summer or early fall. Interviews occur throughout the fall and after the interview season, a rank list is finalized in the NRMP match software. Sometime after that, the NRMP will release the final match results after it receives the finalized rank list both from applicants and from programs and after the release of the final match data to programs and applicants, unmatched programs and unmatched applicants can communicate to fill the remaining spots. Let's go through this stepwise. As mentioned, the first step is that ERAS opens. This is administered by the AAMC and it serves as a central repository for all applications and documents. The applicant chooses which programs receive these documents as well as which documents each individual program may receive. ERAS does allow program directors to set up filters. These allow program directors to choose criteria by which they would like to filter the applicants according to predefined rules. One example of this would be USMLE scores. After the ERAS website opens and programs see the applicants that are applying to them, the programs review all applicants. At that point in time, invitations to interview are sent out. ERAS allows for invitations to be sent out directly from the ERAS website. However, this is not mandatory and programs can choose to communicate in other ways if they so desire. There are multiple considerations for making the invitation list and there is no one right answer to this. Some general considerations that programs would think about would be, firstly, the number of invitations to send out. There is no magic number for this and many programs choose a predefined ratio such as 10 invitations per one spot available through the match. But again, there is no clearly defined rule as to how many applicants the program should invite. This may vary from program to program depending on their personal experiences as well as the challenges of interviewing large numbers of applicants. As for the timing of the invitation, most programs send out their invitations in August assuming that ERAS opens in mid-July. Lastly, the question of a waiting list comes up. Once programs send out all of their invitations, should they tell the other applicants that they will no longer be considered for a position in the program? Should they take a selected group of applicants and place them on a wait list? Again, programs deal with this differently. Some programs choose to maintain a wait list and then invite applicants from the wait list as they hear back from the applicants they had invited from their primary list. But each program chooses how to deal with this individually. It is important to note that not all invited applicants will choose to attend the interviews and therefore a plan as to how to make sure that the appropriate number of applicants are interviewed needs to be in place for each program. After the application season has begun and interview requests have been offered, the interview season then begins. These generally occur in September and October with the NRMP rank list due sometime in mid-November and therefore programs strive to complete all their interviews before this date. We will discuss the interview process separately in the last section of this presentation. Once the interview season is done, programs meet and consider how to create their rank list and how to order their rank list. Once this has been decided by the program and the final rank list is complete, it needs to be placed in the NRMP website by the deadline set by the NRMP. This list must be entered, then saved, and then importantly, it must be certified. The list will not be used by the NRMP until it is certified. If it is merely saved, it will not be considered complete. Therefore it is very important once the rank list is entered to make sure that it is certified on the website. Once it is certified, it cannot be changed, however, it is easy to uncertify the list at any point in time before the NRMP deadline, reorder the list, save it again, and then recertify it. Therefore there is really no downside in certifying the initial list that's put on, even if there are consideration for changes later on in the process. As long as those changes are made before the deadline, it is easy enough to uncertify the list, reorder the list, save it, and again, very importantly, to certify it at the very end of that. Finally, the NRMP will release the final match. This match list is released by the NRMP on a specified date and time, generally at 12 p.m. Eastern Time in early December, but this timing may vary depending on the cycle. Programs and applicants find out at the same time who matched at which program, and if programs filled all its available slots, then the process is complete, and that will be the list of fellows who will attend the program in the next academic year. All programs and applicants are bound by the NRMP agreement to abide by the results of the match. Therefore, any applicants who have matched to a program must be offered the position and must begin in the next cycle. Unmatched programs and applicants can then communicate to fill the remaining spots. There are generally a very small number of unmatched spots in cardiovascular disease programs each year. There is a far larger number of unmatched applicants each year. Once the match results are released, unmatched applicants can reach out to programs with unmatched spots, and programs can now offer those unmatched spots to applicants directly. The NRMP and its process are no longer involved in this process. Applicant information can be found on the ERAS site, and this can be reviewed by the programs. To summarize, the process of selecting fellowship classes by programs and the selection of programs by applicants starts in July with the opening of the ERAS platform for programs to view applications. It ends in December with the NRMP release of the match results, and shortly thereafter the filling of empty spots by unmatched applicants. Navigating this process requires planning, forethought, and keeping track of the various deadlines for both ERAS and the NRMP platforms, and this is the responsibility of the program director.

recruitment process

cardiovascular medicine fellowships

ERAS platform

interviews

NRMP match software