Standardized Letter of Recommendation: Can Everyone Be Awesome?

Jodeh, Diana; Miller-Ocuin, Jennifer L.; Ginesi, Meridith; Abelson, Jonathan S.; Saraidaridis, Julia T.; Stein, Sharon L.; Steinhagen, Emily

doi:10.1016/j.jsurg.2022.08.003

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The RCA offers the groundwork for providing data regarding applicant characteristics outside of test scores and publications, but it has limitations due to the way that it is currently utilized. Nearly half (42%) of applicants have a suggested ranking of #1 (Jodeh et al, 2022). This aligns with comments noted in our survey regarding how candidates are consistently ranked highly.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Holistic Review of Colorectal Surgery Residency Applicants

Khan,

Stein,

Steinhagen

2024

Preprint

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Introduction: Advice regarding application preparation is often anecdotal; there is limited information about how programs evaluate applicants. It is unclear if holistic review is being properly used in an increasingly competitive field. This study aims to describe desirable applicant characteristics and the application review process of CRS programs. Methods: A survey was distributed to all United States CRS Program Directors (PD) during the 2022 application cycle. The survey had questions regarding number of applicants received and the review process including which screening parameters were used and which criteria were valued when evaluating applications. Descriptive statistics are reported. Results: Thirty-six responses from the 67 CRS residency PD (54%) were received. Most (72%) characterized their review process as “holistic.” The majority (58%) of PD classified their hospital setting as academic. The median number of applications reviewed per program was 100, with a median of 26% (IQR 20-31%) of applicants invited to interview. When deciding who to interview, in-training examination (ABSITE) score (92%), letter of recommendation (LOR) content (89%), LOR writer (83%), and research productivity (83%) were the most commonly considered criteria. The “Top 3 Criteria” cited by PD in choosing applicants to interview were LOR, ABSITE and Publications/Research. Conclusions: CRS residencies continue to value traditional metrics such as ABSITE scores, publications, and LOR with both the content and identity writer appearing to be important. Despite many PDs claiming they use a holistic review process, our results indicate otherwise. Increased education providing the rationale behind holistic review should be provided.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Holistic Review of Colorectal Surgery Residency Applicants

Khan,

Stein,

Steinhagen

2024

Preprint

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“…41 In an analysis of 345 colorectal LORs, female applicants were less likely to be described as analytical and more likely to be referred to using agentic words such as “confident.” Both factors were associated with a lower likelihood of matching into a CRS residency. 42 There are some single-institution studies that failed to find gender bias in evaluations or LOR. 38 43 However, the trend described here is consistent with bias seen against female trainees throughout academic medicine.…”

Section: Surgical Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surgical Education: Disparities in Education May Impact the Quality and Likelihood of Completion of Training

Ofshteyn

Steinhagen

2023

Clin Colon Rectal Surg

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Female surgical trainees experience bias that begins at the preclinical stages of medical school, extending into their surgery clerkships, and then into their residency training. There are important implications in terms of training opportunities and career advancement, mentorship, sponsorship, and ultimately burnout. Childbearing and lactation also impact the experiences and perceptions of female trainees who have children. There are limited interventions that have improved the experience of women in surgical training. Mentorship appears to play an important role in ameliorating some of the negative consequences of the training environment and improving outcomes for women surgeons.

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Do Resident Coaching Programs Benefit their Coaches? Impact of a Professional Development Coaching Program on The Coaches

et al. 2023

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Background Coaching has been shown to decrease physician burnout; however, coachee outcomes have been the focus. We report the impact of coaching on women-identifying surgeons who participated as coaches in a 9-month virtual program. Methods A coaching program was implemented in the Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) to determine the effects of coaching on well-being and burnout from 2018 to 2020. AWS members volunteered and completed training in professional development coaching. Pre- and post-study measures were assessed, and bivariate analysis performed based on burnout and professional fulfillment score. Results Seventy-five coaches participated; 57 completed both pre- and post-study surveys. There were no significant changes in burnout or professional fulfillment including the Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, and Accomplishment scale, hardiness, self-valuation, coping, gratitude, or intolerance of uncertainty scores from baseline to post-survey. On bivariate analysis, hardiness was associated with lower burnout throughout the duration of the program. Coaches with lower burnout at the end of the program met with their coachee more frequently than coaches with higher burnout [mean (SD) 3.95(2.16) versus 2.35(2.13) p = 0.0099]. Discussion Burnout and professional fulfillment demonstrated no change in women surgeons who participated as professional development coaches. Those with lower burnout and higher professional fulfillment at the end of the program were found to have higher hardiness, which may be worth future investigation. Conclusions Acquisition of coaching skills did not directly improve well-being in faculty who participated in a resident coaching program. Future studies would benefit from control groups and exploration of qualitative benefits of coaching.

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Standardized Letter of Recommendation: Can Everyone Be Awesome?

Cited by 10 publications

References 27 publications

Holistic Review of Colorectal Surgery Residency Applicants

Holistic Review of Colorectal Surgery Residency Applicants

Surgical Education: Disparities in Education May Impact the Quality and Likelihood of Completion of Training

Do Resident Coaching Programs Benefit their Coaches? Impact of a Professional Development Coaching Program on The Coaches

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