Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Am Surg. 2023 Dec;89(12):5219-5224. doi: 10.1177/00031348221144637. Epub 2022 Dec 2.
The cancellation of clinical rotations (CRs) and implementation of virtual interviews (VIs) profoundly affected the residency selection process leading up to the 2021 NRMP Match. The authors investigated how these changes influenced the caliber of applicants taken by general surgery (GS) residency programs from the perspectives of program directors (PDs).
A 14 question, web-based electronic survey was emailed to PDs of ACGME-accredited GS residency programs. Questions sought program characteristics and PDs' perspectives regarding potential differences in subjective characteristics and clinical skills demonstrated by their 2021 Match class relative to previous resident classes.
A total of 75 PDs (27.2%) responded to our survey. Most respondents observed no changes in residents' fit with their program (72.0%), communication skills (68.0%), responsiveness to clinical instruction and feedback (73.3%), work ethic (73.3%), and rotation evaluations (68.0%). Only 21.3% of PDs believed that VIs negatively impacted their ability to accurately assess applicant intangibles. Conversely, 56.0% of PDs reported that the cancellation of CRs in 2020 negatively affected residents' clinical competency at the start of residency. At 1-year following the 2021 NRMP Match, 30.7% of PDs reported that the clinical skills exhibited by their 2021 Match class were poorer than previous resident classes.
Our findings suggest that VIs limited selection committees' ability to accurately assess applicant's subjective characteristics to a lesser degree than previously described in the literature. Canceled CRs adversely affected the 2021 Match Class's clinical skills at the start of residency and at 1 year following the 2021 NRMP Match.
临床轮转（CRs）的取消和虚拟面试（VIs）的实施对导致 2021 年 NRMP 匹配的住院医师选择过程产生了深远影响。作者从项目主管（PD）的角度调查了这些变化如何影响普通外科（GS）住院医师项目录取的申请人质量。
通过电子邮件向 ACGME 认证的 GS 住院医师项目的 PD 发送了一份包含 14 个问题的基于网络的电子调查。问题旨在了解项目特点和 PD 对其 2021 年匹配班相对于前居民班的主观特征和临床技能表现的潜在差异的看法。
共有 75 名 PD（27.2%）对我们的调查做出了回应。大多数受访者表示居民与项目的契合度（72.0%）、沟通技巧（68.0%）、对临床指导和反馈的反应能力（73.3%）、职业道德（73.3%）和轮转评估（68.0%）没有变化。只有 21.3%的 PD 认为 VIs 对其准确评估申请人无形资产的能力产生了负面影响。相反，56.0%的 PD 报告称，2020 年 CRs 的取消对住院医师开始住院时的临床能力产生了负面影响。在 2021 年 NRMP 匹配后的 1 年，30.7%的 PD 报告称，他们 2021 年匹配班的临床技能比以前的居民班差。
我们的研究结果表明，VIs 限制了选拔委员会准确评估申请人主观特征的能力，程度低于文献中先前描述的程度。取消 CRs 对 2021 年匹配班的临床技能产生了不利影响，在 2021 年 NRMP 匹配后的 1 年也是如此。
