A carbon footprint study of the Canadian medical residency interview tour

Virtual Interviews for Breast Imaging Fellowship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives of Program Directors and Applicants

“…Many medical specialties have reported their experiences with virtual interviews for residency and fellowship programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including lessons learned and advice for successful virtual interviews ( 3–19 ). Reported benefits of virtual interviews include decreased cost ( 3 , 7 , 20–22 ), decreased carbon footprint ( 3 , 22 , 23 ), and potential for increased diversity and more equitable access ( 3 , 24–26 ). Unfortunately, the virtual interview format does not allow applicants to visit the institution or the city, which can limit assessment of institutional culture and desirability of the geographic location ( 27 , 28 ).…”

Canadian medical student climate advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Another success was fellow medical students championing the Canadian Residency Matching Service to move to online interviews, saving 1·44 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per student. 4 The move to online advocacy precipitated many changes that were positive and helpful for our work.…”

Re: A chance for reform: the environmental impact of travel for general surgery residency interviews

“…1 With public health measures placed in response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) declared that all residency programs would conduct interviews in a virtual format for the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) cycles. 2 While the medical learner experience adapts to the pandemic, a return from virtual to in-person curriculums has begun across Canada. With this in mind, in-person interviews may follow with lifting restrictions and the coordinated vaccination effort.…”

“…5 With an estimated 4239 tCO2e produced during the 2020 CaRMs tour alone, annual tours contribute significantly to otherwise mitigable emissions. 6 In contrast, virtual interviews almost entirely eliminate the carbon footprint. With annual reductions of up to 99.9%, in-person tours cannot be justified without further study.…”

“…With annual reductions of up to 99.9%, in-person tours cannot be justified without further study. 6 Ultimately, addressing the dilemma about interview delivery relies on the input of learners. A study performed by Domingo et al (2022) sought to assess applicants' perspectives of virtual interviews in the Pacific Northwest.…”