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. 2023 Feb;15(1):98-104.
doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-22-00191.1.

Using Kotter's Change Management Framework to Redesign Departmental GME Recruitment

Matthew C Miles  1   2 , Karl M Richardson  1   3 , Rachel Wolfe  1   4 , Kristen Hairston  1   5 , Maryjo Cleveland  1   6 , Christopher Kelly  1   7 , Jacqueline Lippert  1   7 , Nina Mastandrea  1   8 , Zachary Pruitt  1   9
Affiliations

Using Kotter's Change Management Framework to Redesign Departmental GME Recruitment

Matthew C Miles et al. J Grad Med Educ. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Background: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, dramatic change in the graduate medical education (GME) trainee recruitment process was required. Kotter's 8-Step Change Model is a change management framework that has been successfully applied to a variety of GME initiatives but not for recruitment redesign.

Objective: To implement major change in program recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic while maintaining Match outcomes and a high-quality candidate experience.

Methods: In 2020, we applied Kotter's 8 steps to implement major changes to program recruitment for a department of internal medicine including 15 GME programs (1 internal medicine residency and 14 subspecialty fellowships). We collected each program's Match fill rates and used Google Analytics to collect monthly website traffic for the year prior to our change process and the subsequent 2 years. Standardized post-interview survey questions were created, and these results were reviewed for descriptive analysis.

Results: We successfully used Kotter's 8 steps to change recruitment to a virtual format. Program fill rates remained high after implementation. Website engagement improved with peak monthly page rates doubling over previous values. During the highest traffic month, the average time on site increased for 7 programs, while the bounce rate decreased by more than half for 10 programs. Candidate descriptive feedback was positive.

Conclusions: The application of Kotter's 8 steps guided major changes to GME recruitment for 15 programs and was associated with maintained Match fill rates and increased website engagement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
September Page Views per Program a Program 11's data is reported as one tenth of actual views since this program's traffic far exceeded the others. All other programs' data are actual page views.
Figure 2
Figure 2
September Bounce Rate per Program
Figure 3
Figure 3
September Time on Site per Program
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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