School of Medicine Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Abstract
Publication Date
8-23-2024
Abstract
Introduction
Radiology has become a more competitive and desired specialty over the recent years. There can be many attributable factors that influence this trend. One specific facet may be the cancer mortality rate of a state. Cancer is often diagnosed through imaging. Greater exposure to cancer in an individual’s personal life or medical training may influence the specialty that they decide to pursue. This paper will investigate whether the cancer mortality rate of a state has a pattern with the percentage of students in medical school that matched into radiology.
Methods
The 2022 age-adjusted death rate by state was collected for five distinct categories as specified by the CDC per 100,000 of the total population. Level 1 is 116.1 - < 128.56, level 2 is 128.56 - < 141.02, level 3 is 141.02 - < 153.48, level 4 is 153.48 - < 165.94, and level 5 is 165.94 - 178.4. The medical schools in the state that correspond with the levels respectively are The University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNMSM), University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS), University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine (UNCCM), Tulane University School of Medicine (TSOM), and University of Oklahoma College of Medicine (UOCOM). The percentage of students matched into diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology in the class of 2021 was analyzed for each medical school from the school’s publicly available published data.
Results
UNMSM had 6.00%, UMMS had 4.98%, UNCCM had 5.93%, TSOM had 3.55%, UOCOM had 4.00% of their class of 2021 match into diagnostic and interventional radiology.
Conclusion
There was no pattern found between the percentage of matched students in diagnostic and interventional radiology and the respective state’s cancer mortality rate. One drawback is that the published data only included the students that permitted reporting by their school. Another drawback is that TSOM’s graduating class size was not stated and had to be determined by the number of individuals listed on the published match list. Students pursuing a preliminary or transitional year with an advanced program could not be separated from those solely pursuing a preliminary or transitional year. When the CDC publishes new data for cancer mortality rates, it is recommended future research endeavors focus on analyzing potential trends.
Recommended Citation
Pham, Michelle M., "Investigating if Medical Schools in States With a Higher Cancer Mortality Rate Have a Greater Percentage of Medical Students Matching Into Radiology" (2024). School of Medicine Publications and Presentations. 1536.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/som_pub/1536
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Academic Level
medical student