Medical students meet their match | Corewell Health

It was only 11:30 a.m. on a Friday, but the Watermark Country Club bar was open and a small line of men and women in their twenties were chatting anxiously as they waited their turn. This day was years and years in the making.

Precisely at noon on that third Friday in March, these fourth-year medical students joined others across the country in a busy tradition called Match Day.

With pounding hearts, each of them took a deep breath and opened a sealed envelope bearing their name. Inside they would find a plain white sheet of paper telling them where they would spend the next three to seven years as a resident doctor.

The envelope, please

At the Watermark, minutes before noon, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine students Felicia Bozeman, Saleem Alameh and Darin Patmon were among those who received a shiny green envelope that would reveal their future.

All three hoped against hope that the words “Corewell Health” were waiting for them inside.

Bozeman repeatedly turned the envelope over in his hands and turned to those closest to him for help. Saleem bounced with anticipation. Patmon handed the envelope to his wife. Moments later, the three of them were celebrating.

The trio were among 69 students from the MSU Grand Rapids campus who gathered for the game day tradition.

“I don’t think I can find the words,” said Alameh, who is studying internal medicine. “I had incredible mentors. It will be exciting to put all these years of training to good use and continue to deepen my knowledge.

Elsewhere, students from medical schools across the country have also secured their assignments. Corewell Health will welcome about 375 first-year medical residents, also called trainees, to its hospitals in July, shortly after they graduate from medical school.

“This is probably the greatest moment of a medical professional’s career,” said TaLawnda Bragg, MD, a hospitalist at Corewell Health in Grand Rapids and program director for the 44 internal medicine residents.

She was successful in her quest for 15 new residents this year. The labor-intensive search started last year with 2,800 requests, each 45 to 50 pages. From there, his team selected 180 candidates for interviews; eight a day, about 20 minutes each with three or four faculty physicians.

The entire process is guided by the National Resident Matching Program and matches are legally binding.

Better care for residents

“There’s an algorithm where the student hopefully gets their first choice, but if the program didn’t select it, then they go to their second choice. The idea is that there is a perfect fit that meets the needs of the student as well as the needs of the program,” Dr. Bragg said.

“It’s kind of like dating,” she says. “And we date a lot of people.”

Residents are an integral part of the health care delivery system.

In addition to shadowing physicians, they assist with admissions, discharges, documentation, medical student instruction, and other duties, all under the supervision of an attending physician.

“We hone their skills. Having that direct mentorship is really important,” Dr. Bragg said. “And the patient gets a lot of attention. Patients receive better care because there are so many eyes on them.

In addition, residents keep doctors on their toes.

“Residents keep us informed, excited and engaged,” she said. “It’s impossible to stagnate when you have resident doctors on your team.”

Many residency programs, including internal medicine, last three years. Some last up to seven hours.

Patmon’s residency in plastic surgery, a highly competitive field, lasts six years.

He took a year off from medical school to complete and present research on plastic surgery at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. He hoped that the research work would strengthen his candidacy.

This bet paid off on the day of the match.

Patmon said he fell in love with plastic surgery after caring for a child who suffered severe facial fractures and other injuries in a car accident. It was there that he saw the breadth and depth of what he could accomplish in this area.

“And I’m so excited to get a paycheck and not take on more loans,” he joked.

Game day had added meaning for Erika Burkett, a student at Oakland University’s William Beaumont School of Medicine, and Nathaniel Bartosek, who attends Central Michigan University College of Medicine.

The two are engaged and successfully paired as a couple at Corewell Health in southeast Michigan. CMU even forwarded Bartosek’s information to OU so the couple could open their envelopes together.

Burkett joins the obstetrics and gynecology program while her fiancé is paired with internal medicine.

“A couple match is much more difficult than a single person match because the programs have to have both specialties. It’s very nerve-wracking not knowing which permutation is going to be there when you open your envelope. game day,” Burkett said, adding that she “held it together” until moments before they opened their envelopes. That’s when the sobs started.

“It shows you how much tension and anxiety you’re building up,” she said.

More than 1,000 residents work with many of Corewell Health’s 11,500 physicians and advanced practice providers. One of them is Dema Fawaz, MD. She spent the last three years as an emergency medicine resident at Corewell Health in Royal Oak, which was her first choice.

And she will remain in the hospital system after her residency ends this summer and she will become a practicing physician, subject to board certification. Corewell Health hired her as a full-time emergency physician in Troy.

Craig Matisoff, MD, who is completing his residency in family medicine, is also staying. He has accepted a hybrid role that will allow him to practice as a primary care physician and hospitalist at Corewell Health in Greenville.

“The hardest part of completing residency is leaving your patients,” he said. “But luckily I won’t have to because I will continue my work here in primary care.”