Does the Experience of the Writer Affect the Evaluative Components on the Standardized Letter of Recommendation in Emergency Medicine?

Beskind, Daniel; Hiller, Katherine M.; Stolz, Uwe; Bradshaw, Hans; Berkman, Matthew; Stoneking, Lisa; Fiorello, Albert; Min, Alice; Viscusi, Chad; Grall, Kristi J.H.

doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2013.08.025

Cited by 25 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…While some differences exist in language used to describe male and female applicants, the SLOE narratives in this sample are, as a whole, free of biased descriptors. The standardization of the SLOE, with specific prompts for the writer, strict word count guidelines, and a focus on qualities deemed important by a group of educators may have resulted in fewer gender‐based differences between applicants . While these results demonstrate a lack of bias in one format of evaluation, recent studies suggest that implicit bias persists within the process of evaluation of trainees, including during residency: a recent multicenter study by Dayal et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender Differences in Language of Standardized Letter of Evaluation Narratives for Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants

Fant

McCarthy

et al. 2017

AEM Education and Training

101

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Objective: While gender differences in language for letters of recommendation have been identified in other fields, no prior studies have evaluated the narrative portion of the emergency medicine (EM) standardized letter of evaluation (SLOE). We aim to examine the differences in language used to describe male and female applicants within the SLOE narrative.Methods: Invited applicants to a 4-year academic EM residency program within a single application year with a SLOE were included in the sample. Exclusion criteria were SLOE of applicants from non-Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) schools or first rotation SLOE not available for download. Data were collected on applicant gender, age, rotation grade, Alpha Omega Alpha designation, and medical school rank. The previously validated Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program was used to analyze frequency of words within categories relevant to letters of recommendation. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and chi-square tests were employed in analysis.Results: Of 1,025 applicants within a single application year, 265 were invited to interview; 237 applicants had a first rotation SLOE available for analysis. There were no differences between male and female applicants for baseline characteristics. The median word count per SLOE narrative was 199; within the LIWC dictionary and user-defined categories, words within the categories of affiliation and ability appeared more frequently for female applicants. Conclusions:Our results with respect to the SLOE narrative reinforce prior research that letters of recommendation for female applicants highlight communal characteristics of teamwork, helpfulness, and compassion. Contrary to prior research, ability words highlighting intelligence and skill appeared with greater frequency for female applicants. No pervasive differences were found in other word categories. In this sample, the standardized format of the SLOE resulted in letters that were relatively free of gender bias.A s early as two decades ago, it was noted that disproportionately few women were applying to the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) and pursuing careers within academic EM.1 One facet of advancement within academics is the letter of recommendation, and a significant body of research has been devoted to gender differences in language used in these letters. [2][3][4][5] Research has found that women tend to be described using grindstone characteristics such as capacity for hard work while men are

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the standardization of the SLOE, variability continues to exist in the composition of the narrative. Some of this variability is based on writer experience or unnecessarily long commentary . Within the EM literature, ethical guidelines for writing letters exist but there are limited data on gender and its relationship to language use in the letters .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Differences in Language of Standardized Letter of Evaluation Narratives for Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants

Fant

McCarthy

et al. 2017

AEM Education and Training

101

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“…While we did not find compendia of letter features, applicant attributes, or common phrases, we used the available concepts from the literature describing LORs. 14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Six pediatrics residency and fellowship PDs and members of the intern and fellowship selection committees at 1 institution (each with 10 or more years of experience reviewing letters) created individual lists of specific letter features, applicant abilities, and commonly used phrases. We limited the number of features, abilities, and phrases to those that achieved consensus within the group.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dear Program Director: Deciphering Letters of Recommendation

Saudek

Treat

et al. 2018

Journal of Graduate Medical Education

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“…10,15,16,21,24,29,30,33,36,38,39,42,46,47,49,50 Learner competence continued to be a prominent research topic, which was studied in 14 (33%) articles. 13,14,17,18,22,23,25,27,32,35,[43][44][45]50 Pediatric topics continued to be studied at about the same rate as in 2012, with seven (16%) articles. 18,21,25,33,37,40,48 Eleven articles (26%) evaluated learners' procedural competency.…”

Section: Trends In Medical Education Research In 2013mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12,15,17,[19][20][21]31,45 Extending a hypothesistested study to more than one institution allows evaluation of an educational program beyond the control of a single institution and enhances generalizability, demonstrating its effectiveness with a wide range of educators, learners, and practice conditions.…”

Section: Trends In Medical Education Research In 2013mentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Education Research: The Best Publications of 2013

Farrell

Kuhn

Coates

et al. 2014

Academic Emergency Medicine

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Objectives: The objective was to critically appraise and highlight methodologically superior medical education research articles published in 2013 whose outcomes are pertinent to teaching and education in emergency medicine (EM).Methods: A search of the English-language literature in 2013 querying Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsychINFO, PubMed, and Scopus identified 251 EM-related studies using hypothesis-testing or observational investigations of educational interventions. Two reviewers independently screened all of the publications and removed articles using established exclusion criteria. Six reviewers then independently scored the remaining 43 publications using either a qualitative a or quantitative scoring system, based on the research methodology of each article. Each scoring system consisted of nine criteria. Selected criteria were based on accepted educational review literature and chosen a priori. Both scoring systems used parallel scoring metrics and have been used previously within this annual review.Results: Forty-three medical education research papers (37 quantitative and six qualitative studies) met the a priori criteria for inclusion and were reviewed. Six quantitative and one qualitative study were scored and ranked most highly by the reviewers as exemplary and are summarized in this article.Conclusions: This annual critical appraisal article aims to promote superior research in EM-related education, by reviewing and highlighting seven of 43 major education research studies, meeting a priori criteria, and published in 2013. Common methodologic pitfalls in the 2013 papers are noted, and current trends in medical education research in EM are discussed.ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2014;21:1274-1283 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Q uality, hypothesis-driven education research is necessary to promote evidence-based decisions about effective ways to teach the physicians of tomorrow. Education research has gained increasing support and prominence in emergency medicine (EM) academia, with available grant opportunities from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors. Furthermore, the 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference focused on the theme "Education Research in Emergency Medicine: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success" to promote a national initiative to advance the field of education research. 1 In this sixth installment of the annual critical appraisal series, the same six reviewers used previously published criteria 2 to critically analyze and rank the EM education research from 2013. The focus of this article is to review and highlight the methodologically superior studies that are pertinent to teaching and education in EM. Trends in EM education research over the past 6 years, as they can be inferred from this review, are summarized. It is METHODS Article IdentificationThe previously described methodology to search for relevant publications was used. 2 Publications...

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Does the Experience of the Writer Affect the Evaluative Components on the Standardized Letter of Recommendation in Emergency Medicine?

Cited by 25 publications

References 6 publications

Gender Differences in Language of Standardized Letter of Evaluation Narratives for Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants

Gender Differences in Language of Standardized Letter of Evaluation Narratives for Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants

Dear Program Director: Deciphering Letters of Recommendation

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Education Research: The Best Publications of 2013

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