Wang Rebecca F, Zhang Myron, Alloo Allireza, Stasko Thomas, Miller Jordan E, Kaffenberger Jessica A
Ms. Wang and Drs. Zhang and Kaffenberger are with the Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Dr. Alloo is with the Department of Dermatology at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine in New Hyde Park, New York.
J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2018 Mar;11(3):26-29. Epub 2018 Mar 1.
We aimed to analyze the reformatted standard letter of recommendation (SLOR) for dermatology residents to examine trends in grading and content based on the positions of the letter writers, their backgrounds, and their relationship with the applicant, as well as to evaluate the SLOR's ability to discriminate applicants. This was a retrospective characterization study of dermatology SLORs from the 2016-17 application cycle. We examined SLORs received by The Ohio State University, the University of Oklahoma, and Hofstra University Northwell Health dermatology residency programs. We included dermatology residency applicants and their letter writers from the 2016-17 application cycle. A total of 141 SLORs were analyzed from 115 applicants. SLORs demonstrated grade inflation from letter writers of all backgrounds. Ratings for research potential and inquisitive nature were significantly lower than ratings for other categories. Letter writers with limited clinical and research contact graded applicants significantly lower than did writers who had more extensive contact. Word boxes were underutilized. The dermatology SLOR is useful in differentiating applicants, and ratings correlate with the relationships that letter writers have with their applicants. Residency programs should be aware of these findings when evaluating letters of recommendation for applicants.
我们旨在分析皮肤科住院医师重新格式化的标准推荐信（SLOR），以根据推荐人的职位、背景及其与申请人的关系，研究评分和内容趋势，并评估SLOR区分申请人的能力。这是一项对2016 - 17年申请周期中皮肤科SLOR的回顾性特征研究。我们检查了俄亥俄州立大学、俄克拉荷马大学和霍夫斯特拉大学诺斯韦尔健康皮肤科住院医师项目收到的SLOR。我们纳入了2016 - 17年申请周期的皮肤科住院医师申请人及其推荐人。共分析了来自115名申请人的141份SLOR。所有背景的推荐人给出的SLOR都存在分数膨胀现象。研究潜力和求知欲的评分显著低于其他类别的评分。临床和研究接触有限的推荐人给申请人的评分显著低于接触更广泛的推荐人。文字框未得到充分利用。皮肤科SLOR在区分申请人方面很有用，评分与推荐人与其申请人的关系相关。住院医师项目在评估申请人的推荐信时应了解这些发现。
