Addressing the Impact of COVID‐19 on the Residency Application Process Through a Virtual Subinternship

Abstract

Senior medical students are facing an unparalleled experiential gap left by COVID-19 restrictions. Due to a shared commitment to safety, equity, and well-being, away rotations are actively being discouraged or even prohibited. As a result, students transitioning to residency encounter reduced clinical training experiences and decreased access to advising, mentorship, and research opportunities. In addition, limited exposure to residency life across subspecialties and institutions poses unique challenges during the current residency application cycle. The otolaryngology–head and neck surgery community has met these unprecedented challenges by producing diverse electronic resources for specialty-specific clinical education, as well as discussing ways to increase access to advising. In this commentary, we review these initiatives and propose an institutional virtual event as a platform for meeting goals previously achieved by visiting subinternships.

Medical education challenges and innovations during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Research shows that exposure to the specialty of interest is critical for the professional development and strengthens medical students' confidence concerning their possible career choice. [65][66][67] Furthermore, during this new challenging COVID-19 landscape, the input of mentors is probably needed more than ever. 68 Clinical exposure to positive role models may help some students to pursue a specialty that they had not previously considered.…”

“…Due to their absence from clinical settings, medical students have limited personal exposure to positive role models and members of faculty and this may negatively influence career decisions and professional identity formation. 67 Another major concern about residency selection involves disruption of away rotations. Away rotations are elective activities that take place away from the student's academic environment, where students have the opportunity to gain experience with a different hospital, medical record system, faculty and patient population.…”

Reimagining Residency Selection: Part 1—A Practical Guide to Recruitment in the Post-COVID-19 Era

“…Several specialties have adopted virtual rotation experiences, including emergency medicine, 36 neurological surgery, 37 and otolaryngology. 38 Social enterprise networks such as Slack have been previously used to provide asynchronous curricula for medical students 39 and residents, 40 and could also be opened to potential applicants. 31 Programs can consider strategies to connect with applicants who are selected for interviews prior to the actual interview.…”

The Evolving Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Student Orthopedic Education: Perspectives From Medical Students in Different Phases of the Curriculum

“…As away rotations remain suspended for many students for this application cycle, recommendation letters previously obtained following strong performances at away rotations will no longer be a factor for applications. 8 Traditionally, in-person rotations significantly influence where a student will match. 9 In many competitive surgical subspecialties, including orthopedic surgery, greater than 50% of students completing away rotations match at a program where they rotated.…”