Emergency Medicine Residency Applicants’ Perceptions about Being Contacted after Interview Day

Objective: We sought to characterize the experiences and preferences of applicants to emergency medicine (EM) residency programs about being contacted by programs after their interview day but before the rank list submission deadline.Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed all applicants to an academic EM residency during the 2006-2007 interview cycle. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. We used a Web-based survey software program to administer the survey in February 2007, after rank lists were submitted. Two additional invitations to participate were sent over the next month. The instrument contained multiple-choice and free-text items. This study was submitted to our Institutional Review Board and was exempt from formal review.Results: 240/706 (34%) of applicants completed the survey. 89% (214/240) of respondents reported being contacted by a residency program after their interview but before rank lists were due. Of those contacted, 91% report being contacted by e-mail; 67% by mail; and 55% by phone. 51% of subjects reported that being contacted changed the order of their rank list in at least one case. A majority of contacted applicants felt “happy” (58%) or “excited” (56%) about being contacted, but significant numbers reported feeling “put on the spot” (21%) or “uncomfortable” (17%). A majority felt that it is appropriate for programs to contact applicants after interview day but before the rank lists are submitted, but 39% of contacted subjects responded that contact by phone is either “always inappropriate” or “usually inappropriate.” Regarding perceptions regarding the rules of the match, 80% (165/206) of respondents felt it was appropriate to tell programs where they would be ranked, and 41% (85/206) felt it was appropriate for programs to notify applicants of their place on the program’s rank list.Conclusion: Most EM residency applicants report being contacted by programs after the interview day but before rank lists are submitted. Although applicants feel this practice is appropriate in general, over a third of subjects feel that contact by phone is inappropriate. These findings suggest that residency programs can expect a majority of their applicants to be contacted after an interview at another program, and shed light on how applicants perceive this practice. [West J Emerg Med. 2010; 11(5):474-478.

Social Media Responses to the Annals of Emergency Medicine Residents' Perspective Article on Multiple Mini-Interviews

In May 2014, Annals of Emergency Medicine continued a successful collaboration with an academic Web site, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) to host an online discussion session featuring the 2014 Annals Residents' Perspective article "Does the Multiple Mini-Interview Address Stakeholder Needs? An Applicant's Perspective" by Phillips and Garmel. This dialogue included Twitter conversations, a live videocast with the authors and other experts, and detailed discussions on the ALiEM Web site's comment section. This summary article serves the dual purpose of reporting the qualitative thematic analysis from a global online discussion and the Web analytics for our novel multimodal approach. Social media technologies provide a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse audience to detect existing and new emerging themes. Such technologies allow rapid hypothesis generation for future research and enable more accelerated knowledge translation

Creating Educational Leaders: Experiences with Two Education Fellowships in Emergency Medicine

Academic physicians aiming to build careers on the scholarship of teaching require specific career development opportunities designed to provide the skills necessary for successful advancement and promotion as clinician-educators and scholars. Completing this training prior to embarking on an academic career may facilitate a smooth transition to a faculty position and establish mentoring networks and research collaboratives. This article describes two pilot medical education fellowships that have been successfully implemented in separate and unique departments of emergency medicine (EM). By comparing and contrasting the curricula and incorporating the experiences of graduating 10 EM education fellows over the past decade, the authors propose a fellowship structure that may be adapted to meet the needs of medical educators in a broad variety of fields and disciplines

Factors Applicants Value when Selecting an Emergency Medicine Residency

Objective: Little is known about the factors important to applicants when selecting an emergency medicine residency. We sought to identify which residency-specific criteria applicants value in selecting a training program.Methods: We conducted an anonymous survey of emergency medicine interviewees at our residency. Applicants were asked to rate each of 18 factors on a four-point scale from 1 (“not at all important”) to 4 (“very important”) in their selection of a residency.Results: Of 82 interviewees, 73 (89%) completed the survey. The factors with the top six mean scores were: how happy the residents seemed (3.9), program personality (3.8), faculty enthusiasm (3.7), geographic location (3.6), experience during interview day (3.5), and pediatrics training (3.5).Conclusion: The top three factors deemed most important to emergency medicine applicants are primarily intangibles, while programs have no control over the fourth most important factor, location.[WestJEM. 2009;10:159-162.