It was a moment four years in the making with the anxiety and anticipation building before games were released for fourth-year medical students.
What you need to know Match Day helps fill some voids in the healthcare industry Fourth-year medical students find out where they are matched for their residency programs It comes at a time when there is a shortage health care workers
“It was palpable,” said medical student John Sinclair. “Everyone was so anxious. You just feel your heart beating out of your chest.
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine students complete their clinical rotations at Rochester Regional Health hospitals and clinics. Keep an eye on their phone for the email that will let them know where they have been matched for their residency programs.
And suddenly, the students learn their fate. Sinclair was celebrating his match, as he will be leaving to become an anesthesiologist.
“It’s just a great field,” Sinclair said. “You interact with patients every day, you make such a big difference.”
“It’s a huge day,” said Dr. Richard Alweis, Rochester Regional Health’s associate chief medical officer for medical education. “It’s a real rite of passage for our medical students.”
It was a heartbreaking moment for Nicholas Abdallah, who found he was matched with his first choice, the Cleveland Clinic.
“When I opened this email and saw this reflection of my dream and my hopes and what young Nicholas wanted to be, I was just thrilled,” Abdallah said.
Appropriate news on St. Patrick’s Day for the Cleveland native – the busiest day of the year for his family’s deli business back home.
“My grandfather opened the restaurant in 1964 when he emigrated from Lebanon and I am the product of hard work and the American dream,” Abdallah said. I called my dad and he’s behind the line and answered the phone and announced it to the rest of the restaurant and so it was great,” Abdallah said.
The healthcare industry as a whole is hosting game day at a time when there is a national shortage of workers in the field.
“Across the United States, there’s not a lot of access,” Dr. Alweis said. “We don’t have enough primary care providers. We don’t have enough mental health services. And this concept, behind this particular medical school, was that they were going to produce a lot of people.
Newly matched medical students are ready to help fill the void and become doctors.
“I’m on cloud nine and it’s happiness,” said Abdallah. “I think that’s what happiness looks like.”
