Expectations Versus Reality: Understanding the Accuracy of Impressions Made During Virtual Interviews of Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Programs

ABSTRACT

Rationale As a result of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, all pediatric pulmonary fellowship programs for the first time conducted virtual interviews in the Fall of 2020. This study aimed to understand applicants' experiences with virtual interviews and whether this format allowed them to gain accurate impressions of their current training program. Methods: A group of pediatric pulmonary fellows and Program Directors designed a REDCap survey. The survey was emailed to all pediatric pulmonary Program Directors for distribution to first-year fellows 6 months into their training. Results: 23/49 (47%) of first-year pediatric pulmonary fellows completed the survey. Because of the virtual interview format, 43% [CI 26-63%] of respondents reported that they applied to more programs and 65% [CI 45-81%] attended more interviews. Applicants with in-person exposure to their future fellowship program (i.e. attended same institution for residency and fellowship or participated in an elective rotation at the fellowship institution) applied to fewer programs (30% CI 11-60% vs. 54% CI 29-77%) and attended fewer interviews (40% CI 17-69% vs. 85% CI 58-96%) than those applicants with virtual-only exposure. 96% of applicants were able to form general impressions about fellowship programs based on their virtual interview. 96% of applicants expressed agreement that their current experience in fellowship matched their virtual interview-derived impression. Further breakdown of applicant ability to form impressions and how those impressions matched current fellowship experience is represented in figure 1. There was congruency between the virtualinterview derived impressions and actual fellowship experience for 19 different factors applicants used to rank programs. Correcting for in-person exposure to their fellowship institution prior to a virtual interview, fewer applicants with in-person exposure experienced a meaningful change in impression 6 months after arrival to their fellowship program (27% vs. 73%). 83% of applicants preferred some form of virtual interview to be included or offered in the future. A tiered interview format (applicants are invited to a virtual interview day followed by an optional in-person second look) was the most popular preference for future interview cycles (48%). Conclusions: Virtual interviews may provide an accurate representation of pediatric pulmonary fellowship programs and should be offered in future application cycles.