Philly-area emergency medicine residency programs bounced back this match. Local pediatric programs bucked national trend.

Emergency medicine physicians at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery cheered as this year’s residency match week kicked off last week. All eight of their openings for residents were filled in the match, unlike last year, when half were left open after the initial phase of the process.

Einstein Montgomery’s experience is part of a national trend: emergency medicine residency programs are bouncing back after an unprecedented 554 spots were unfilled last year.

» READ MORE: Match time: How Philly-area residency programs fared in last year’s match, by the numbers

Only 135 were left unclaimed this year, and none is at Einstein or other Jefferson Health-owned hospitals.

The National Residency Match Program is the months-long process through which graduating medical students apply to the next phase of their clinical training. Applicants rank their desired programs, and vice versa. An algorithm matches these rankings and the process culminates in a reveal of these pairings in mid-March on a day that is known as Match Day.

Last year, Jefferson didn’t fill a quarter of its spots in emergency medicine. The vacancies included: four of eight spots at Einstein Montgomery, eight out of 14 at Einstein’s main hospital in North Philadelphia, four of eight in Jefferson Northeast, and one of 13 in Jefferson’s South Jersey program.

All these spots filled up in the 2024 match, a spokesperson for Jefferson said.

Separately, Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, part of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, filled up their six spots in emergency medicine after not filling a single one in the match last year.

Nazareth interviewed prospective residents in person this year, moving away from last year’s fully virtual approach. That helped students get a better understanding of the program, Kanika Gupta, the hospital’s emergency medicine residency program director, said in a statement.

Unmatched slots don’t necessarily mean fewer residents get trained. The match takes a week to allow programs and applicants to “scramble” to fill empty spots. All emergency medicine spots in Jefferson and Nazareth filled over the four-day scramble last year.

Across the U.S., the number of unfilled pediatrics residency slots more than doubled this year, with 252 training slots nationally initially unmatched. But Philly-area programs were still in demand.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia filled all 61 of its residency spots throughout six training programs. Similarly, Tower Health’s St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children filled its 24 residency spots. In New Jersey, Cooper University Health’s pediatrics program in partnership with Rowan University filled all of its 10 spots.

Einstein Medical Center operates a pediatrics residency program in partnership with St. Christopher’s that did not participate in the match. Einstein announced in January the program will close once the current residents graduate.

» READ MORE: Einstein Medical Center shuts down pediatric residency program