Cohen Samuel A, Xiao Michelle, Curtin Catherine M, Yao Jeffrey
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
J Hand Surg Glob Online. 2022 Jun 14;4(5):269-275. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsg.2022.05.004. eCollection 2022 Sep.
The internet is an important information source for hand surgery fellowship applicants. A previous analysis of hand fellowship websites in 2014 demonstrated they were often inaccessible and incomplete. Given the increased importance of virtual information, we performed an updated assessment of the accessibility and content of hand fellowship program websites.
Websites of 92 accredited hand surgery fellowship programs were evaluated for the following: (1) accessibility; and (2) the presence of 13 fellow recruitment and 13 fellow education criteria, as defined in prior studies. We used Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests to assess whether the geographic region, number of fellows, or affiliation with a top orthopedic hospital or medical school were associated with website content.
Functional website links that redirect to the appropriate fellowship program website are provided for 47 (51.1%) of 92 programs on the American Society for Surgery of the Hand fellowship directory. All missing websites were accessible via independent Google searches. Fellowship program websites contained an average of 13.9 ± 4.4 total criteria (range, 3-23). Of the 15 criteria examined in both 2014 and 2021, there were significant ( < .05) increases in the prevalences of 4: current fellow(s), salary, social media links, and operative experience.
Despite a slight increase in accessibility since 2014, nearly half of hand surgery fellowship program websites remain inaccessible from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand directory. Program websites averaged approximately half of the criteria analyzed, with many websites failing to provide information deemed important by applicants.
Our study provides an impetus for improving the accessibility and content of hand surgery fellowship websites. A website that incorporates criteria examined in this study can serve as an effective recruitment tool by providing consistent baseline information that may help applicants decide which programs align with personal values and future career goals.
互联网是手外科专科培训申请者的重要信息来源。2014年对手外科专科培训网站的一项分析表明，这些网站常常无法访问且内容不完整。鉴于虚拟信息的重要性日益增加，我们对手外科专科培训项目网站的可访问性和内容进行了更新评估。
对92个经认可的手外科专科培训项目的网站进行了以下评估：（1）可访问性；（2）先前研究中定义的13项学员招募标准和13项学员教育标准的存在情况。我们使用曼-惠特尼U检验和克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯检验来评估地理区域、学员数量或是否隶属于顶尖骨科医院或医学院与网站内容是否相关。
在手外科协会专科培训名录中，92个项目中有47个（51.1%）提供了可重定向到相应专科培训项目网站的有效网站链接。所有缺失的网站均可通过独立的谷歌搜索访问。专科培训项目网站平均包含13.9±4.4项标准（范围为3 - 23项）。在2014年和2021年都进行评估的15项标准中，有4项的普及率显著增加（P <.05）：现任学员、薪资、社交媒体链接和手术经验。
尽管自2014年以来可访问性略有提高，但手外科协会名录中仍有近一半的手外科专科培训项目网站无法访问。项目网站平均包含约一半的分析标准，许多网站未能提供申请者认为重要的信息。
我们的研究为改善手外科专科培训网站的可访问性和内容提供了动力。纳入本研究中所审查标准的网站可作为一种有效的招募工具，通过提供一致的基线信息，帮助申请者决定哪些项目与个人价值观和未来职业目标相符。
