The COVID-19 pandemic posed a novel challenge for the 2020-2021 Match cycle resulting in a virtual interview season. The advent of virtual interviews raised concerns for both programs and medical students. The possibility of an impact on the application strategies for medical students resulting in students being more likely to remain in the region or state of their medical school was considered. We investigated whether there was a change in the geographic distribution of residency applicants for the class of 2025 (matched in 2021) as compared to the previous three application cycles (classes of 2022-2024) across all 168 neurology residency programs within the United States. MethodsPublicly available data from neurology program websites were compiled to record the location of resident medical schools and matched programs for the residency classes of 2022-2025. Missing or ambiguous information was cross-referenced to social media, (e.g. LinkedIn and Twitter). Statistical analyses were conducted utilizing SPSS 26 (IBM SPSS 26 Statistics for Windows, Armonk, NY). ResultsAcross all four classes, regional retention (students matching in the same region) was 70.2% for the Northeast, 59.6% for the Midwest, 52.9% for the South, and 59.4% for the West. No significant change between the residency class of 2025 and the previous three classes was present. DiscussionNo significant change to the geographic trends for candidates was seen with the virtual interview process for the 2020-2021 neurology Match. As has been seen in other fields, a strong regional preference, with the majority of residents matching to programs in the same regions as their medical school, was seen for neurology.

Background Residents have valuable perspectives about diversity and equity in medical training, yet many graduate medical education curricula lack dedicated activities focused on such issues. Objectives To describe and report feasibility and acceptability of an innovation that uses individual reflection and group discussion to create conversation in our residency program about equity and injustice through the lens of the Black Lives Matter movement. Methods In July 2020, we sent a survey with reflection prompts to all postgraduate year 2 and above internal medicine residents. In the discussion session (during required academic time), we presented 10 of the residents' responses to the reflection prompts. After each response was read aloud, the residents had an open discussion. We used thematic analysis to analyze the responses to the reflection prompts. Acceptability was tracked through free-text comments in the survey. Feasibility was measured by the time and resources needed to conduct the session. Results We received responses from 24 out of 72 (33%) residents. We identified 10 codes that fell into 4 themes. The most commonly identified codes included anger or frustration toward events, self-reflection on privilege, increased awareness and discussion of racism in daily life, and life being minimally impacted/homeostasis. The 4 overarching themes were (1) awareness, (2) motivation for change, (3) emotional response, and (4) self-reflection. Conclusions Using a format of reflection and sharing of anonymous responses was an inexpensive and effective method to begin a discussion about equity and injustice in medicine.