Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
J Surg Res. 2022 Oct;278:331-336. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2022.04.075. Epub 2022 May 31.
General surgery residency training programs adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic by going online instead of in-person, through virtual interviews, social media engagement, and virtual open houses. The impact of these virtual interactions is unknown. We sought to understand their effectiveness as per residency program directors and assistant program directors.
An institutional review board approval was obtained to conduct this anonymous survey. A Qualtrics XM survey containing multiple-choice and short-answer questions was distributed to 590 residency program and assistant program directors through the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) listserv on July 6, July 13, and July 20.
We observed a response rate of approximately 11% across the 590 surgeons contacted. Nearly all (90%) respondents offered virtual preinterview interactions, primarily virtual open houses, virtual facility tours, and virtual question and answer (Q&A) sessions with residents and faculty; 48% of respondents were unsure of the utility of virtual interactions and the majority (54%) felt that virtual interaction limits a program's ability to evaluate applicants. Virtual Q&As were ranked to be the most effective interaction (7.6/10); 80% of respondents felt that visiting rotations were "somewhat important" to "very important," the two highest options available. In addition, 74% felt that applicants missed out on fully experiencing the program by forgoing these rotations. Most respondents (78%) noted that evaluation of applicants' preinterview did not change as a result of virtual interactions. Nearly half (48%) of the respondents offered more interview days due to the virtual format. A fifth (21%) of respondents stated that virtual interactions resulted in a change in the rank position of an applicant. Respondents ranked Twitter and Instagram higher in applicant engagement than Facebook. Factors that impacted interview or rank order list the most were late/absent step two CK scores (33%) and a lack of away rotations (31%), both being limitations largely due to the pandemic. With respect to future application cycles, most (71%) raised concerns regarding disparities between applicants applying in-person and virtually if both or either are offered.
Our study suggests that program directors and associate program directors have reservations about the use of virtual interactions with applicants. Interestingly, these data suggest that visiting subinternships are useful for programs in evaluating applicants. This may encourage students to pursue rotations at other institutions at the expense of already-limited resources. It remains unclear whether virtual interactions will be used in the future, but respondents largely agreed that the virtual means of interacting with and disseminating information to the applicants of the 2020-2021 general surgery Match were a success.
外科住院医师培训计划通过虚拟面试、社交媒体参与和虚拟开放日等方式在线进行，而不是面对面进行，从而适应了 COVID-19 大流行。这些虚拟互动的影响尚不清楚。我们试图了解其对住院医师计划主任和助理计划主任的有效性。
我们获得了机构审查委员会的批准，以进行这项匿名调查。一份包含多项选择题和简答题的 Qualtrics XM 调查于 7 月 6 日、7 月 13 日和 7 月 20 日通过外科医师计划主任协会 (APDS) 的邮件列表分发给 590 名住院医师计划主任和助理计划主任。
我们观察到，在联系的 590 名外科医生中，约有 11%的人做出了回应。几乎所有（90%）的受访者都提供了虚拟预面试互动，主要是虚拟开放日、虚拟设施参观和与居民和教师的虚拟问答（Q&A）会议；48%的受访者不确定虚拟互动的实用性，大多数（54%）认为虚拟互动限制了一个项目评估申请人的能力。虚拟问答被评为最有效的互动（7.6/10）；80%的受访者认为参观轮转对他们来说是“有些重要”到“非常重要”，这是两个最高选项。此外，74%的受访者认为申请人错过了这些轮转，从而无法充分体验该项目。大多数受访者（78%）表示，由于虚拟互动，他们对申请人面试前的评估没有改变。近一半（48%）的受访者由于虚拟模式提供了更多的面试日。五分之一（21%）的受访者表示，虚拟互动导致申请人的排名位置发生了变化。受访者认为 Twitter 和 Instagram 在吸引申请人方面比 Facebook 更有效。影响面试或排名的最重要因素是第二步 CK 分数的延迟/缺失（33%）和缺乏外部轮转（31%），这两者都是由于大流行而导致的限制。关于未来的申请周期，大多数（71%）对如果同时或仅提供现场和虚拟申请，申请人之间的差异表示担忧。
我们的研究表明，住院医师计划主任和助理住院医师计划主任对与申请人进行虚拟互动持保留态度。有趣的是，这些数据表明，参观实习对评估申请人很有用。这可能会鼓励学生在已经有限的资源上追求在其他机构的轮转。目前尚不清楚虚拟互动是否会在未来使用，但受访者普遍认为，2020-2021 年普通外科住院医师匹配虚拟互动和向申请人传播信息的方式是成功的。
