Improving the Medical School to Residency Transition: Narrative Experiences From First-Year Residents.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify first-year obstetrics and gynecology residents' perceptions of both support needed at the medical school to residency transition and readiness to address structural racism and bias at the start of residency training. STUDY DESIGN: Residents were recruited by email and social media for 1:1 interviews from March to June 2021. All interviews were completed by a first-year resident or fourth-year medical student using an interview guide created by the authorship team. Recorded interviews were anonymously transcribed and independently reviewed for themes by two authors. SETTING: Virtual interviews on the Zoom platform. PARTICIPANTS: First-year obstetrics and gynecology residents. RESULTS: Interviews were performed with 26 residents, and six themes for support emerged from their narratives: 1) Establishing a residency program community; 2) Relocation resources; 3) Residency preparation content in medical school and residency; 4) Preparedness to address racism and bias; 5) Connecting with peers with similar lived experiences across institutions; and 6) More proactive intentional touchpoints from program leadership early in residency. CONCLUSIONS: Resident narratives described multiple crucial opportunities to improve learners' transition to residency. These findings can help define a roadmap of resources and support that residency programs can provide for learners from Match Day through the first few months of residency.

Residency match interview scheduling: quantifying the applicant experience.

BACKGROUND: The process of offering and scheduling residency interviews varies widely among programmes. Applicants report distress and have advocated for reform. However, there is a paucity of quantitative data to characterise applicant concerns. OBJECTIVE: We quantified the interview scheduling experience for US allopathic medical students in the 2020 main residency match. METHODS: An anonymous, 13 question survey was sent to student representatives from each Association of American Medical Colleges member institution. Recipients were asked to forward the survey to their entire fourth-year class. RESULTS: Of 4314 applicants to whom the survey was sent, 786 (18.2%) responded. Overall, 20.4% reported missing the opportunity to interview at a programme because they did not have adequate time to respond to an invitation; applicants into surgical specialties were significantly more likely than their non-surgical peers to report this experience (26.4% vs 18.4%, p<0.05). Most (57.4%) respondents scheduled an interview knowing they would likely cancel it in the future. The most commonly cited reason for this behaviour was concern that applicants would not receive invitations from other programmes (85.6%). A majority (56.4%) of respondents did not believe the match interview process functions based on equity and merit. CONCLUSIONS: About one in five respondents missed the opportunity to interview at a programme because they did not respond to an invitation in time. Most respondents scheduled interviews knowing that they were likely to cancel them in the future. Standardisation of the interview invitation timeline would address these concerns.