Changing Perceptions About the Dermatology Residency Application Process Among Applicants and Program Directors: 2020-2022.

Importance Over the last two years, dermatology has undergone significant reforms in the residency application process in efforts to reduce applicant stress, increase equity, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Objective We aimed to determine applicant and program director (PD) perspectives in implementing these changes over the last two application cycles.  Design, setting, and participants Anonymous online surveys were administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to PDs and applicants from the 2021-2022 dermatology residency application cycle. These results were compared with similar online surveys distributed after the 2020-2021 cycle. Results Coordinated interview release was introduced in the 2020-2021 dermatology application cycle. At that time, 57% of PDs and 84% of applicants wished that more programs participated in the release, compared to 53% and 84%, respectively, in the 2021-2022 cycle. In 2021, 28% of PDs reported matching applicants from their home institution higher on their list compared to 14% in 2022. In 2021 and 2022, 94% of PDs reported that diversity was an explicit goal in their application process. However, in 2021, 33% of PDs reported that they matched no UIMs (underrepresented in medicine) in their cohort, which grew to 39% in 2022. Conclusions This study identifies key trends in applicant and PD perspectives associated with changes in the application process such as coordinated interview release, virtual interviews, and emphasis on diversity. Additional data is needed from subsequent cycles in order to determine the efficacy of these reforms.

Personality predictors of extreme response style.

Extreme response style (ERS) refers to the tendency to overuse the endpoints of Likert-type scales. This study examined the extent to which ERS is accounted for by measures of personality, specifically, intolerance of ambiguity, simplistic thinking, and decisiveness. One hundred and sixteen pairs of undergraduate students and one of their respective peers completed a battery of questionnaires assessing these personality measures, alongside three measures of extreme responding. Results indicate that peer ratings of intolerance of ambiguity and simplistic thinking interact with the primary participant's time spent on the survey to predict the primary participant's extreme responding. Thus, those who quickly complete surveys and are intolerant of ambiguity or are simplistic thinkers are most likely to exhibit ERS. These results have implications not only for surveys using rating scales, but also illustrate how epistemic personality factors more generally influence the processing of new information.