key: cord-0794799-fc6jfp05
authors: Jiang, Jinfeng; Key, Phillip; Deibert, Christopher M
title: Improving the Residency Program Virtual Open House Experience: A Survey of Urology Applicants
date: 2020-10-10
journal: Urology
DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2020.08.077
sha: 586e2b5dbcc24cf24e3db6a0dfdb6ec13abee25b
doc_id: 794799
cord_uid: fc6jfp05

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the perception and value of virtual open houses for urology applicants in the COVID-19 era, since students can no longer attend sub-internships and all interviews will be conducted virtually. METHODS: A Twitter survey was sent to 230 likely urology applicants connected through the UroResidency platform. It asked about the relative value of components of the virtual open house and areas for suggested improvement. RESULTS: 70 responded. Most potential applicants valued virtual open houses that discussed strengths and weaknesses of the program, had time to interact directly with the faculty, and included resident led presentations or discussions. Most agreed programs needed to have more direct time with residents to better understand the culture of the program. CONCLUSIONS: In this first virtual interview season for urology, likely applicants generally engage in virtual open houses and strongly prefer time to interact directly with residents to assess the program culture.

Intro COVID-19 continues to have a major impact on medical education. For the Class of 2021, visiting medical student clerkships have been canceled for students with a residency at their home institution (1) . This is particularly important for specialties such as Urology, for which visiting clerkships serve to introduce applicants to different Urology programs, working daily with faculty and residents to understand the culture and training. Urology applicants give a rank visiting clerkships highly and believe it influences decision making by programs when matching (2) . Additionally, these clerkships assist the applicant to refine personal decisions and generates letters of recommendation and subsequent interview invitations (3). features on a scale of 1-5. The survey was created using Google Forms and distributed through a medical student group called UroResidency that was founded by two of the authors (JJ and PK). All 230 students invited to the survey were previously and contemporaneously connected by a Twitter Urology applicant group list, so the survey was distributed via Twitter. This was reviewed and considered exempt by our IRB (#512-20-EX).

A total of 70 responses were received for the survey. No demographic data was requested.

Applicants describe virtual open houses as beneficial (3.8/5) and will help them decide whether to apply to a specific program (3.9/5). Aspects of the open house most important to applicants were discussing the strengths and weaknesses of a program (4.5/5), resident Q/A (4.6/5), and the various available training sites (4.4). Aspects applicants found less important included history of the program (3.1/5), and media showcase (pictures and video) of the program (3.6). Other lower scoring questions included whether applicants feel if they get to interact with faculty (3.1/5), and if they were able to differentiate between programs (3.4/5).

Applicants indicated they most enjoyed virtual openouses that featured resident participation (4.6/5).

Covid-19 has disrupted traditional residency application processes. Traditionally, applicants have been able to learn about programs from doing sub-internships at other institutions and in-person interviews. This is no longer possible this year due to the need for social distancing and all visiting sub-internships have been canceled and interviews made completely virtual. These changes may negatively affect applicants this cycle as they lose the ability to have in person interactions with the program faculty and residents (2, 4) . There is concern that neither applicants nor programs will have an opportunity to get to know each other firsthand before match day. Programs in turn may have trouble attracting applicants to their program due to lack of available information. In response to this, urology residency programs have been on the forefront Another criticism was that these events are often too large or impersonal. Some events can attract upward of 100 students and many applicants feel that they don't get to meet any of the residents or faculty during these sessions because they are typically structured as a presentation by the program director or chair only. An overwhelming majority favor having either breakout rooms where applicants are separated into different groups during the event to have more face to face time with residents/faculty or to have a resident led "happy hour" whereby a small group of residents and a limited number of applicants can have a frank discussion of the program. Applicants overwhelmingly want to talk to residents during these open houses and feel that it is the most beneficial component. It helps them understand the culture of the program and the type of residents currently training in it. Studies have shown that the most important aspects of interview day are resident interviews and pre-interview dinners, therefore having resident only virtual events will help foster these discussions (6, 7, 8 

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