Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell Health at Mather Hospital Transitional Year Residency Program (U.K.T.), San Diego, California, USA.
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Department of Radiology (P.D.M.), Newark, NJ, USA.
Acad Radiol. 2023 Oct;30(10):2396-2400. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2023.05.035. Epub 2023 Jul 5.
As residency programs in diagnostic radiology aspire to broaden trainee diversity, reliance on certain criteria may affect the selection of candidates from underrepresented groups. With the conversion of reporting of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 scores to pass/fail, programs may rely more on numerical USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores. The purpose of our investigation is to assess the effects of Step 2 CK scores on the selection of underrepresented minority (URM) and female candidates.
Applications from United States senior allopathic medical students to a radiology residency program from the 2021-2023 National Residency Matching Program cycles were analyzed. Subjects were classified as male or female and URM or non-URM by self-identification. Step 2 CK scores were compared and the use of cutoff scores was examined for disparate effects.
1017 subjects fulfilled the entry criteria. There were 721 males and 296 females, with 164 URM and 853 non-URM candidates. Comparing males to females, there was no significant difference in the mean score (p = 0.21) and no disparate effects of cutoff scores. There was a significant difference between the mean score of URM versus non-URM candidates of eight points (p < 0.00011). The use of cutoffs showed a disparate effect on URM candidates with a cutoff score of 250 (average score for 2022 matched applicants) excluding 71% of URM candidates while excluding only 46% of non-URM candidates.
Reliance on USMLE Step 2 CK scores to screen applications for radiology residency can disadvantage URM candidates. Females are not adversely affected.
随着放射诊断学住院医师培训项目力求扩大学员多样性，某些标准的使用可能会影响代表性不足群体候选人的选择。随着美国医师执照考试（USMLE）第 1 步成绩报告转换为通过/失败，项目可能会更多地依赖于数值 USMLE 第 2 步临床知识（CK）成绩。我们研究的目的是评估 USMLE 第 2 步 CK 成绩对代表性不足的少数族裔（URM）和女性候选人选择的影响。
分析了来自美国 2021-2023 年全国住院医师匹配项目周期的高年级全科学员申请放射学住院医师培训项目的申请。根据自我认同，受试者被分为男性或女性以及 URM 或非 URM。比较了第 2 步 CK 成绩，并检查了使用截止分数的差异影响。
1017 名受试者符合入选标准。其中 721 名为男性，296 名为女性，164 名为 URM，853 名为非 URM 候选人。与男性相比，女性的平均分数没有显著差异（p=0.21），也没有截止分数的差异影响。URM 与非 URM 候选人的平均分数相差 8 分（p<0.00011）。使用截止分数对 URM 候选人有明显的差异影响，截止分数为 250（2022 年匹配申请人的平均分数），排除了 71%的 URM 候选人，而仅排除了 46%的非 URM 候选人。
依赖 USMLE 第 2 步 CK 成绩筛选放射学住院医师培训的申请可能会使 URM 候选人处于不利地位。女性不受不利影响。
