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. 2023 Oct:290:241-246.
doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2023.05.012. Epub 2023 Jun 8.

The Importance of General Surgery Residency Program's Online Presence Varies Among Applicant Groups

Kristen M Quinn  1 , Bailey E Richardson  2 , Raphael H Parrado  3 , Cynthia L Talley  3
Affiliations

The Importance of General Surgery Residency Program's Online Presence Varies Among Applicant Groups

Kristen M Quinn et al. J Surg Res. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an exclusively virtual 2021 residency application cycle. We hypothesized that residency programs' online presence would have increased utility and influence for applicants.

Methods: Substantial surgery residency website modifications were undertaken in the summer of 2020. Page views were gathered by our institution's information technology office for comparison across years and programs. An anonymous, voluntary, online survey was sent to all interviewed applicants for our 2021 general surgery program match. Five-point Likert-scale questions evaluated applicants' perspective on the online experience.

Results: Our residency website received 10,650 page views in 2019 and 12,688 in 2020 (P = 0.14). Page views increased with a greater margin compared to a different specialty residency program's (P < 0.01). From 108 interviewees, 75 completed the survey (69.4%). Respondents indicated our website was satisfactory or very satisfactory compared to other programs (83.9%), and none found it unsatisfactory. Applicants overall stated our institution's online presence impacted their decision to interview (51.6%). Programs' online presence impacted the decision to interview for nonWhite applicants (68%) but significantly less for white applicants (31%, P < 0.03). We observed a trend that those with fewer than this cohort's median interviews (17 or less) put more weight on online presence (65%), compared to those with 18 or greater interviews (35%).

Conclusions: Applicants utilized program websites more during the 2021 virtual application cycle; our data show most applicants depend on institutions' websites to supplement their decision-making; however, there are subgroup differences in the influence online presence has on applicant decisions. Efforts to enhance residency webpages and online resources for candidates may positively influence prospective surgical trainees, and especially those underrepresented in medicine, to decide to interview.

Keywords: Applicant perspective; General surgery residency; Online presence; Residency match.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The surgery residency program website page views by year compared with the anesthesia program’s page views by year. Surgery’s website page views were higher than anesthesia’s both in 2019 (P < 0.6) and 2020 (P < 0.002).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Webpage viewership varied by month for residency pages, indicating a substantial temporal relationship when applicants navigate to program webpages. (A) Depicts surgery compared to anesthesia, surgery fellowship, and general medical education webpages in 2020. (B) Depicts 2019 compared with 2020 webpage views for the residency landing webpages of surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and otolaryngology. Surgery’s page view was higher than obstetrics and gynecology in 2019 (P < 0.001) and 2020 (P < 0.001). Surgery’s page view was higher than otolaryngologyin 2019 (P < 0.001) and 2020 (P < 0.001).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The self-reported yes/no if online presence impacted applicants’ decision to interview with a program by sex, race, and if they had more or less than the median number of interviews in our cohort. Males were more impacted than females (P = 0.053). White applicants indicated a decreased influence compared to non-White applicants (45% versus 77%, P < 0.03). Students with fewer interviews were more likely to be impacted (P = 0.4).
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