Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
World Neurosurg. 2023 Oct;178:e13-e23. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.05.093. Epub 2023 Jun 2.
Because of the effect of COVID-19 on academic opportunities, as well as limitations on travel, away rotations and in-person interviews, COVID-19-related changes could impact the neurosurgical resident demographics. Our aim was to retrospectively review the demographics of the previous 4 years of neurosurgery residents, provide bibliometric analysis of successful applicants, and analyze for the effects of COVID-19 on the match cycle.
All American Association of Neurological Surgeons' residency program websites were examined for a list of demographic characteristics for current postgraduate years 1 to 4. Gathered information included gender, undergraduate and medical institution and state, medical degree status, and prior graduate programs.
A total of 114 institutions and 946 residents were included in the final review. Most (676, or 71.5%) of the residents included in the analysis were male. Of the 783 who studied within the United States, 221 (28.2%) residents stayed within the same state of his or her medical school. Fewer residents (104 of 555, or 18.7%) stayed within the same state of his or her undergraduate school. Demographic information and geographic switching relative to medical school, undergraduate school, and hometown showed no significant changes between pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19-matched cohorts overall. The median number of publications per resident significantly increased for the COVID-19-matched cohort (median, 1; interquartile range [IQR], 0-4.75) when compared with the non-COVID-19-matched cohort (median, 1; IQR, 0-3, P = 0.004), as did first author publications (median, 1; IQR, 0-1 vs. median, 1; IQR, 0-1; P = 0.015), respectively. The number of residents matching into the same region in the Northeast relative to undergraduate degree was significantly greater after COVID-19 (56 [58%] versus 36 [42%], P = 0.026). The West demonstrated a significant increase in the mean number of total publications (4.0 ± 8.5 vs. 2.3 ± 4.2, P = 0.02) and first author publications (1.24 ± 2.33 vs. 0.68 ± 1.47, P = 0.02) after COVID-19, with the increase in first author publications being significant in a test of medians.
Herein we characterized the most recently matched neurosurgery applicants, paying particular attention to changes over time in relation to the onset of the pandemic. Apart from publication volume, characteristics of residents and geographical preferences did not change with the influence of COVID-19-induced changes in the application process.
由于 COVID-19 对学术机会的影响，以及旅行、轮转和现场面试的限制，COVID-19 相关变化可能会影响神经外科住院医师的人口统计学特征。我们的目的是回顾前 4 年神经外科住院医师的人口统计学特征，对成功申请者进行文献计量学分析，并分析 COVID-19 对匹配周期的影响。
检查所有美国神经外科学会住院医师培训计划网站，以获取当前第 1 至第 4 年研究生的人口统计学特征列表。收集的信息包括性别、本科和医学院及州、医学学位状态以及以前的研究生课程。
共有 114 个机构和 946 名住院医师纳入最终审查。分析中包括的大多数（676 名，或 71.5%）住院医师为男性。在 783 名在美国学习的住院医师中，有 221 名（28.2%）住院医师留在了其医学院所在的州。留在本科学校所在州的住院医师较少（555 名中的 104 名，或 18.7%）。与医学院、本科学校和家乡相关的人口统计学信息和地理转移在 COVID-19 匹配队列和非 COVID-19 匹配队列之间没有显著变化。与非 COVID-19 匹配队列相比（中位数，1；四分位距 [IQR]，0-4.75），COVID-19 匹配队列中每名住院医师的出版物中位数（中位数，1；IQR，0-4.75）明显增加（中位数，1；IQR，0-3，P=0.004），第一作者出版物也是如此（中位数，1；IQR，0-1 与中位数，1；IQR，0-1；P=0.015）。COVID-19 后，与本科学位相比，东北地区进入同一地区的住院医师人数明显增加（56[58%]比 36[42%]，P=0.026）。与 COVID-19 前相比，西部地区的总出版物数量（4.0±8.5 与 2.3±4.2，P=0.02）和第一作者出版物数量（1.24±2.33 与 0.68±1.47，P=0.02）均有显著增加，第一作者出版物的增加在中位数检验中具有显著意义。
在此，我们对最近匹配的神经外科申请者进行了描述，特别关注与大流行开始相关的时间变化。除了出版物数量外，住院医师的特征和地理偏好并没有因 COVID-19 引起的申请流程变化而改变。
