WITHDRAWAL AND EXTENDED LEAVE DURING RESIDENCY TRAINING - RESULTS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY

Background. Although national figures for medical student withdrawal a nd extended leave have long been reported, similar data have not been available for residents in training. Method. Data for this study came from the American Medical Association survey of the 1991-92 residency year, in which program directors were asked for information about resi dents who had taken extended leave or had withdrawn or been dismissed from their programs prior to completion. Data are reported for 89,368 residents enrolled in 6,302 programs (89.2% of all surveyed programs). Results. During the 1991-92 year, 2,449 residents (2.7%) withdrew or were dismissed from their programs and 887 (1.0%) took extended leave. Specialty and program changes accounted for 56% of the withdrawals, w hile performance difficulties were implicated in 12.9%. Maternity or p aternity leave was involved in 32.2% of extended leaves, followed by r esearch sabbaticals (11.4%) and physical problems (10.5%). Women had h igher rates of both withdrawal and extended leave than men. Withdrawal for performance difficulties was lowest among graduates of U.S. and C anadian allopathic schools as compared with graduates of osteopathic o r foreign medical schools, and lowest among Caucasians as compared wit h those of other racial - ethnic identities. Conclusion. Although over all figures and percentages are low, there are small but persistent lo sses of residents annually that vary by specialty, gender, race-ethnic ity, and education.