Pianello Samantha R, Abouezzi Joanna M, Weber Garret M, Drugge Elizabeth, Medow Marvin S, Abramowicz Apolonia E
Anesthesiology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, USA.
Anesthesiology, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, USA.
Cureus. 2024 Jul 1;16(7):e63573. doi: 10.7759/cureus.63573. eCollection 2024 Jul.
Background Letters of recommendation (LORs) are an important part of the application process for medical residency programs with most specialties preferring a narrative format. Given the inherent subjectivity of narrative LORs, the current study sought to determine whether the intended messages of narrative LORs written for applicants to anesthesiology residency programs are accurately interpreted by readers. Methodology Anonymous online surveys were sent via the Qualtrics platform to program directors (PDs) of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited anesthesiology residency programs in the Mid-Atlantic region as designated by the Electronic Residency Application Service, which consists of the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Each PD participant received five surveys, each of which was attached to a de-identified LOR that was written by another PD located at an institution in the same region. Both the letter writer and study participants were asked to score LORs on a Likert-like scale. Participants were additionally asked whether the LORs, if received, would influence their decision to either offer an interview to the applicant or to rank the applicant. Finally, participants were asked to note any specific words or phrases within the LORs that they found to be particularly impactful. Results Overall, 10 of 34, 29.41%, PDs responded to the survey. There was a high correlation between the LOR intent and the respondents' assigned rating (Spearman's rho = 0.7973, p < 0.001). Responses were more accurate for "outstanding and excellent" LORs compared to the lower three categories. Results were unaffected after adjusting for respondents' years of experience as PDs. Additionally, 71.6% indicated that the LORs would influence the decision about offering an interview, and 56.5% stated that the LORs would influence a ranking decision. Conclusions Our results indicate that respondents' perception of LORs correlated strongly with the intent of the writer. Additionally, respondents seemed to value LORs for interview and ranking decisions.
背景 推荐信是医学住院医师培训项目申请过程的重要组成部分，大多数专业更喜欢采用叙述形式。鉴于叙述性推荐信存在固有的主观性，本研究旨在确定为麻醉学住院医师项目申请人撰写的叙述性推荐信的预期信息是否能被读者准确解读。
方法 通过Qualtrics平台向电子住院医师申请服务指定的大西洋中部地区经研究生医学教育认证委员会认证的麻醉学住院医师项目的项目主任（PD）发送匿名在线调查问卷，该地区包括纽约州、宾夕法尼亚州和新泽西州。每位PD参与者收到五份调查问卷，每份问卷都附有一份来自同一地区另一机构的PD撰写的身份信息已删除的推荐信。信的撰写者和研究参与者都被要求根据类似李克特量表对推荐信进行评分。参与者还被问及如果收到这些推荐信，是否会影响他们决定给申请人面试机会或对申请人进行排名。最后，要求参与者指出他们认为推荐信中特别有影响力的任何特定单词或短语。
结果 总体而言，34名PD中有10名（29.41%）回复了调查。推荐信意图与受访者给出的评分之间存在高度相关性（斯皮尔曼相关系数=0.7973，p<0.001）。与较低的三个类别相比，“优秀和杰出”推荐信的回复更准确。在调整受访者作为PD的工作年限后，结果不受影响。此外，71.6%的人表示推荐信会影响面试决定，56.5%的人表示推荐信会影响排名决定。
结论 我们的结果表明，受访者对推荐信的看法与撰写者的意图密切相关。此外，受访者似乎重视推荐信对面试和排名决定的作用。
