Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2023 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back
Rate ePoster

Comprehensive Otolaryngology

(545) Virtual Interviews in Otolaryngology: Programs’ Perspectives after Three Years

Monday, October 2, 2023
2:45 PM – 3:45 PM East Coast USA Time

    Presenting Author(s)

  • ES

    Elliot Schiff, N/A

    Medical Student
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine
    Bronx, New York, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Benjamin I. Wajsberg, MD

    PGY1
    Head and Neck Institute, Cleveland Clinic
    Cleveland, Ohio, United States

  • John Bent, MD

    Professor
    Albert Einstein College of Medicine
    Bronx, New York, United States

  • RS

    Richard V. Smith, MD

    Professor and Chair
    Montefiore Medical Center
    Bronx, New York, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • RS

    Richard V. Smith, MD

    Professor and Chair
    Montefiore Medical Center
    Bronx, New York, United States

Disclosure(s):
Benjamin I. Wajsberg, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Richard V. Smith, MD: No relevant relationships to disclose.


Introduction: Virtual interviews were introduced to the residency application process in 2020 by the AAMC during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, while the pandemic wanes, virtual interviews remain a part of the application process. Prior studies described the attitudes of program directors and department chairs in otolaryngology before and immediately following that initial application cycle. This study aims to determine their perspective on virtual interviews in 2023, as programs prepare for a fourth cycle with virtual interviews.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to otolaryngology residency program directors and department chairs during the 2022-2023 application cycle.

Results: Eighty-five responses were collected from program directors and department chairs of 129 programs (33%). Twenty-four (28.24%) were “satisfied” or “strongly satisfied” with the virtual interview format. When asked to score the likelihood that they would continue virtual interviews in future cycles on a scale of 1 to 100, the mean score was 47.18. Ability to assess applicants’ professionalism, clinical skills and knowledge, and program “fit” achieved scores of 2.92, 2.84, and 2.58 out of a maximum of 5, respectively.

Conclusions: When compared to data from the 2020-2021 application cycle, overall satisfaction with virtual interviews has decreased from 63.8% to 28.2%. Specific challenges like the inability to assess program “fit” or to describe the geographic location remain consistent. These findings should spur conversation about how best to adapt the virtual interview if it is to remain a fixture of the application process.