Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Application, and Selection Criteria Adaptations, in Times of COVID-19

Abstract

Background: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education and residency application have faced unprecedented changes. This has forced residency directors to alter their selection criteria in the absence of away rotations and the implementation of nationwide virtual interviews. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess how residency directors have adapted their selection criteria in light of this unique application cycle and to look at the effect, and future, of the different changes. Methods: A 16-question online survey was disseminated to 31 residency programs gathering data about new opportunities offered this cycle, changes to selection criteria, match outcomes, as well as the number of applicants to their program. Results: Twenty-nine respondents completed the survey (94% response rate). There was a significant rise in the number of applications received by programs this cycle (p < 0.05). Programs have unanimously altered their selection processes. The biggest changes in selection criteria were putting more weight into communication from mentors, emails from the applicants, home applicant status, and virtual information session attendance. Some programs used additional application requirements beyond Electronic Residency Application Service, which were often uncompleted, and cut the number of eligible applications by up to 46%. Among the new opportunities offered this cycle, virtual information sessions and social media platforms seem to be the most commonly offered and are anticipated to grow. Discussion and Conclusion: Orthopaedic surgery residency continues to become more competitive with a significant rise in the number of applications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid this increasingly demanding virtual application cycle, a holistic application review was more challenging. More weight was put that cycle into communication from faculty mentors, emails from the applicants, home applicant status, and virtual information session attendance. Supplementary applications and virtual informative opportunities are likely to last and change the future of the orthopaedic surgery residency application process.Disclosure: The Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms are provided with the online version of the article (http://links.lww.com/JBJSOA/A380).

Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on the 2021 Orthopaedic Surgery Match Outcomes

“…Applicants and program directors also felt that residency program social events during the cycle were not replicated well in the virtual setting 11 . Without adequate opportunities to evaluate each other, unaffiliated programs and applicants may have weighed home program affiliation more heavily when they developed their match rank lists 30 .…”

Preference-Signaling During the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Application Process

“…Recent data indicate that in the COVID-19 era, program directors put more emphasis on communication from mentors (62% said they put more weight into this than previous cycles). 22 This was the biggest change noted in the COVID-19 era. Performing well enough during medical school and building relationships with mentors that will catalyze them into advocates for applicants during interview season should be the goal for every orthopaedic surgery applicant.…”

“…*Since the transition to virtual interviews in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many programs have begun to positively consider attendance at virtual information sessions as well. 22 It is unclear how this attendance will be considered in the future.…”

“…We advise tailoring the number of applications to the strength of an applicant's curriculum vitae (CV) (top tier: 40 to 50 applications, mid-tier: 50 to 70 applications, and low tier: 70+); other circumstances may influence the number of applications (eg, couples matching, previously unmatched, international medical graduate status, and osteopathic medical degree). 22 Local mentorship and careful discussions with faculty mentors can help guide these decisions. Where students have limited local mentorship within their medical schools, there are a number of publicly available resources, including the Council of Orthopaedic Residency Directors (https://www.aoassn.org/cord-program/), OrthoMentor, and others.…”

“…There was a wide variation in the association between virtual session participation and interview invitations. 22 There will likely be fewer virtual rotations with the relaxation of COVID-19 away rotation restrictions in the coming cycles.…”