Impact on Match Rates
The number of applicants to otolaryngology declined significantly during the PSP/ORTA period (18.9%, P = 0.001), decreasing from a mean of 376 applicants in 2014–2015 (pre-PSP/ORTA) to 305 in 2016–2018 (during PSP/ORTA) (Table 1 ). When examined individually, only the PSP led to a significant decrease in the number of applicants (17.8%, P = 0.007). When the PSP became optional, it did not result in a significant increase in applicants (27.2%, P = 0.167), whereas moving the ORTA to post-match did (40.8%, P = 0.010).
Match rate success followed an opposite trend to applicant numbers. There were significant improvements from 74.8% to 91.2% during PSP/ORTA (P = 0.014), followed by significant decline to 73.1% after optional PSP and post-match ORTA (P = 0.002) (Table 2 ). Like applicant numbers, when examined individually, only the PSP led to a significant increase in match rates (PSP 14.6%, P = 0.035; ORTA 6.9%, P = 0.066). When the ORTA was switched to post-match and PSP became optional, match rate success decreased 20% (P = 0.011) and 10.6% (P = 0.289), respectively.