Effect of Doximity Residency Rankings on Residency Applicants’ Program Choices

Abstract

IntroductionChoosing a residency program is a stressful and important decision. Doximity released residency program rankings by specialty in September 2014. This study sought to investigate the impact of those rankings on residency application choices made by fourth year medical students.MethodsA 12-item survey was administered in October 2014 to fourth year medical students at three schools. Students indicated their specialty, awareness of and perceived accuracy of the rankings, and the rankings’ impact on the programs to which they chose to apply. Descriptive statistics were reported for all students and those applying to Emergency Medicine (EM).ResultsA total of 461 (75.8%) students responded, with 425 applying in one of the 20 Doximity ranked specialties. Of the 425, 247 (58%) were aware of the rankings and 177 looked at them. On a 1–100 scale (100=very accurate), students reported a mean ranking accuracy rating of 56.7 (SD 20.3). Forty-five percent of students who looked at the rankings modified the number of programs to which they applied. The majority added programs. Of the 47 students applying to EM, 18 looked at the rankings and 33% changed their application list with most adding programs.ConclusionThe Doximity rankings had real effects on students applying to residencies as almost half of students who looked at the rankings modified their program list. Additionally, students found the rankings to be moderately accurate. Graduating students might benefit from emphasis on more objective characterization of programs to assess in light of their own interests and personal/career goals.

Impact of Doximity Residency Navigator on Graduate Medical Education Recruitment

“…Doximity reputation rankings are derived from surveys sent to board-certified physicians and modeled after the annual physician survey from which U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals rankings are calculated 2 . Previous studies have called into question the validity of the Doximity reputation rankings due to the lack of objective and outcome-based data used to formulate these rankings 3, 4, 5, 6. Consistent with previous studies,5, 6 the present study found that applicants question the accuracy of Doximity reputation rankings.…”

“…Nonetheless, previous studies using surveys have shown that Doximity reputation rankings influence applicants' behaviors when applying to and ranking residency programs 5, 6. To date, there are no large cohort studies evaluating the impact of DRN on medical students' residency selection across a wide distribution of GME programs.…”

“… 3 , 4 Nonetheless, previous studies using surveys have shown that Doximity reputation rankings influence applicants' behaviors when applying to and ranking residency programs. 5 , 6 To date, there are no large cohort studies evaluating the impact of DRN on medical students' residency selection across a wide distribution of GME programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess residency applicants' use and perceptions of DRN and to analyze the effect of Doximity reputation rankings on the application, interview acceptance, and match list rankings of applicants at a single sponsoring institution.…”

Impact of Doximity Residency Rankings on Emergency Medicine Applicant Rank Lists

“…For content validity, we modeled the questions after previous studies. 4 , 11 The survey was reviewed by all authors with attention to response process and revised. For additional content validity, the questions were modeled after previous studies on a similar population (fourth-year students applying to residency).…”

“…An initial study indicated that applicants are using Doximity in their choice of program applications. 11 This impact is potentially concerning, since there has been significant resistance to Doximity rankings in the EM community due to concerns about lack of objective criteria, inaccurate portrayal of residency programs, bias towards programs with larger alumni networks and provision of potentially misleading information to students as well as patients in the community. 12 The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the Doximity rankings on the rank list choices made by residency applicants in EM.…”