Development of a Survey for the Assessment of Prospective Hand Surgery Fellows' Goals and Interests

Abstract

Through an accepted seven-step process outlined by the International Association for Medical Education, we created a high-quality questionnaire that will provide objective evaluation of prospective hand surgery fellows' goals and desires. Utilizing qualitative methodology via semistructured interviews with prospective and current hand surgery fellows from across the United States, we developed a codebook that represented desired themes within a one-year hand surgery fellowship, focusing on numerous topics including the importance of exposure to a specific pathology, curriculum, fellowship size, and location, etc. We then generated a survey, validated it among experts including current program directors, and performed cognitive interviews with the same prospective and current fellows to ensure content validity. The result was the creation of a survey, which can be employed to monitor trends in the goals and desires of prospective hand surgery applicants to ensure that fellowships remain adaptable and current.

Keywords: Hand surgery fellowship; education; survey.