The Impact of COVID-19 on the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Application Process

Aiyer, Amiethab; Granger, Caroline J.; McCormick, Kyle; Cipriano, Cara A.; Kaplan, Jonathan; Varacallo, Matthew; Dodds, Seth D.; Levine, William N.

doi:10.5435/jaaos-d-20-00557

Cited by 41 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In-person interviews allowed applicants to make educated and well inform choices about their rank order and for the institution to endorse their strengths and teaching methods at the same time. Like the many adoptions made to the current situation, this allows continuity of the process of residency candidates recruitment but with the aforementioned reservations [ 15 ].…”

Section: The Dilemma For Residency Applicants; Virtual Interviewing Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The plight of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and residency applicants

Tariq

Sah

Malik

2020

Annals of Medicine and Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this pandemic situation, medical students find them in a state of apprehension. With medical institutions closed and switch to online teaching and telehealth, many aspects of medical learning are still compromised, including core clinical rotations, clinical skills evaluation, and exams cancelation. The medical students are distressed about their continuity of education and developing the necessary skill to feel confident enough to practice in the future. The involvement of medical students as frontline workers with inadequate clinical training, the uncertainty of future, lack of knowledge, and access to personal protective equipment have aroused a sense of fear in them. They not only nurture their clinical skills from the clinical rotations but it also helps adapt to their residency program later. With the lack of clinical experience, challenges of online learning, cancelation of conferences, and on-site research, medical students are struggling to make their residency application competitive. Recruiting residents amid the pandemic is a difficult task. The uncertainty in the unprecedented situation has an immense psychological impact on medical students and residency applicants. Despite the hurdles being faced, there are many ways where medical students and residency applicants can use their knowledge to help in fighting the pandemic. They can volunteer in the field of research on COVID-19, as a contact tracer, and provide peer support to the patients through telecommunications. Many avenues are being sought to ensure the continuation of medical education. However, how efficient these methods will prove in the future is yet to be revealed.

show abstract

Section: The Dilemma For Residency Applicants; Virtual Interviewing Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The plight of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and residency applicants

Tariq

Sah

Malik

2020

Annals of Medicine and Surgery

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although studies have evaluated the economic burden of the application process to medical students desiring a residency in orthopaedics broadly 4 - 6 , no study has evaluated in detail the application costs, away rotation costs, interview costs, and total costs. In the calendar year 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has added an unforeseen complexity to the orthopaedic residency match process 7 . Given that the Association of American Medical Colleges and Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors have recommended orthopaedic surgery residency programs for the 2021 residency application cycle cancel away rotations and in-person interviews with the exception of select applicants 8 , 9 , it would be useful to evaluate the cost savings to medical students applying during this unprecedented time and the potential implications.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost Analysis of Medical Students Applying to Orthopaedic Surgery Residency: Implications for the 2020 to 2021 Application Cycle During COVID-19

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Although studies have evaluated the economic burden to medical students desiring an orthopaedic residency broadly, no study has evaluated in detail the application costs, away rotation costs, interview costs, and total costs. Given that the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Orthopaedic Association's Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors have recommended orthopaedic surgery residency programs for the 2021 residency application cycle cancel away rotations and in-person interviews, our objective was to evaluate the cost savings to medical students applying during this time and the potential implications. Methods: Using the 2019 to 2020 Texas STAR Dashboard database, we queried responses from applicants applying to orthopaedic surgery residency. The dashboard was queried to record the application costs, away rotation costs, interview costs, and total costs for medical school seniors applying to orthopaedic surgery residency. Demographic information for applicants was also recorded. Mean and median costs were reported with percentile distributions and geographic comparisons. A Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in mean costs by medical school region. Results: The 2019 to 2020 Texas STAR Dashboard database had 473 responses from applicants to orthopaedic surgery residency. The mean application costs were $1,990, away rotation costs were $3,182, interview costs were $3,129, and total costs were $8,205. The mean total costs for applicants from Midwest schools were significantly less than Western schools ($7,410/applicant vs. $9,909/applicant) (p = 0.008). There was no significant difference between the mean application fees between regions. Away rotation costs for applicants from schools in the Midwest ($2,413/applicant) were significantly less compared with Northeast ($3,279/applicant), South ($3,343/applicant), and West ($3,913/applicant) (all p < 0.002). Interview costs for applicants from schools in the Northeast ($2,891/applicant) were less than applicants from Western US schools ($3,831/applicant) (p = 0.038). Conclusion: In the COVID-19 era, orthopaedic residency applicants could save on average $6,311 through the use of virtual interviews and lack of away rotations. There are geographic implications, with applicants from Western US medical schools potentially saving most.

show abstract

“…In 2018, the average candidate submitted 85.7 applications, representing a 59% increase over a 10-year period. This increase has challenged programs with evaluating ∼124 applications per position and drove application fees to nearly $2,000 and total application costs to $8,205 per candidate 1 , 2 , 10 , 11 . Although the American Orthopaedic Association Council of Residency Directors recommended for the 2020/2021 application cycle that allopathic candidates with an USMLE Step 1 score of >235 or ≤235 apply to no more than 40 or 60 programs, respectively, the majority of respondents here (79%) applied to more than 75 programs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Interviews in the Era of COVID-19

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Orthopaedic surgery residency program directors (PDs) and candidates consider interviews to be central to the application process. In-person interviews are typical, but virtual interviews present a potentially appealing alternative. Candidate and PD expectations and perceptions of virtual interviews during the 2020/2021 orthopaedic surgery application cycle were assessed. Methods: Candidates and PDs were surveyed electronically. Questions covered pre–virtual-interview and post–virtual-interview expectations and perceptions, and past in-person experiences (PDs and reapplicants) on the relative importance of application components, ability to assess fit, interview costs, and preferred interview mode. Identical questions allowed between-group comparisons. Results: Responses included n = 29 PDs and n = 99 candidates. PDs reported diminished ability to assess candidate fit; social, clinical, and surgical skills; and genuine interest in the virtual context (each p ≤ 0.01). They placed greater importance on research and less on the interview in the virtual vs. in-person context (each p = 0.02). Most candidates (78%) reported fair/good ability to demonstrate potential and were better able to assess research opportunities than expected (p < 0.01). Candidates expected virtual interviews to increase the importance of research, transcripts, and recommendations (for each, p ≤ 0.02) and decrease the importance of the interview itself (p < 0.01). Compared with PDs, candidates overvalued research, United States Medical Licensing Examination scores, transcripts, and recommendations (each p ≤ 0.02) and may have slightly undervalued the virtual interview (p = 0.08). Most candidates (81%) and PDs (79%) preferred in-person interviews, despite both groups reporting monetary savings. Conclusions: Despite cost savings associated with virtual interviews, orthopaedic surgery residency PDs and candidates identified reduced abilities to assess candidate or program fit and displayed a preference for in-person interviews.

show abstract

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Application Process

Cited by 41 publications

References 19 publications

The plight of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and residency applicants

The plight of COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and residency applicants

Cost Analysis of Medical Students Applying to Orthopaedic Surgery Residency: Implications for the 2020 to 2021 Application Cycle During COVID-19

Virtual Interviews in the Era of COVID-19

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About