Attrition from ophthalmology residency programs.

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the incidence of and reasons for voluntary resident attrition from ophthalmology training programs. DESIGN: Retrospective survey. METHODS: A survey was mailed to residency program directors of the 121 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited ophthalmology residency programs asking them to report the number of residents who withdrew from training during 2001 to 2002 and the reasons for withdrawal. RESULTS: Of 102 responding programs, 13 (12.7%) had one resident withdraw from training in the academic year 2001 to 2002. These 13 residents represented 1.1% of all ophthalmology residents in training at the responding institutions during that academic year. The most frequent reason for withdrawing was to enter another medical specialty. CONCLUSIONS: Voluntary resident attrition from ophthalmology training programs is uncommon. The 1.1% attrition rate in this study is the lowest among published reports of attrition from other specialties.