Factors and Influences That Determine the Choices of Surgery Residency Applicants

Prevalence and Causes of Attrition Among Surgical Residents

“…I cannot say enough about the power of mentorship, which has been cited by many studies as a critical retention tool during and after residency. 2,3 We mentor to help people reach their full potential: we cheer them on when they succeed and guide them when they encounter obstacles. Surgical residency is notoriously arduous and the longer hours compared with other specialties can take a toll on some residents.…”

“…General surgery residency programs are among the most competitive training programs to join, and they often attract high-profile applicants. [1][2][3] However, the attrition rate of general surgery residents (reported to range from 2% to 26%) appears to be relatively higher than other specialties, which poses major challenges at the program, institutional, and postgraduate medical education levels. [4][5][6][7][8] Although resident attrition is well known to be a significant problem in surgical training, data on factors associated with attrition are unclear.…”

Mastering the Match: Recruiting a Successful Surgery Resident

“…In fact, many residents use the website information not only to determine where to apply, but also in their interview and ranking decisions [38,39]. Nonetheless, in studies that evaluated general surgery or specialty program websites, the majority were found to be incomplete or outdated, have non-functional links and be overall inadequate [31,39,40]. In a review of programs' website specifically looking at elements of diversity, 89% missed the mark for inclusivity, with university programs faring better than private institutions [41].…”

“…Overall, it is essential that a program prioritize the importance of different candidate attributes. Though there is some conformation in the top few characteristics [30], ''matching applicant objectives with program opportunities is of critical importance to many of the challenges faced by general surgery residency programs'' [31]. For example, programs with nearly 100% fellowship participation after residency would not likely benefit by targeting the same demographic of applicants as a program with a history of graduating residents bound to practice in rural areas.…”

An Update on the Accessibility and Quality of Online Information for Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowships

“…While background information about each program is provided on the POSNA and SF Match databases, the majority of information regarding pediatric orthopaedic fellowship programs that may be useful for prospective applicants is likely to be found on individual program websites. Both residency and fellowship applicants throughout the country have indicated that a program’s website is an important factor when deciding where to apply, where to interview, and where to rank programs during the match process [ 3 - 8 ]. Despite the importance of residency and fellowship program websites, they are inconsistent regarding both accessibility and content [ 9 - 12 ].…”