Evaluating surgical resident selection procedures.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Selecting surgical residents is critical for future healthcare quality.
• Standardized assessment tools are needed to improve the objectivity and reliability of the selection process.
• Existing resident selection processes across Canada lack uniformity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a rating form for surgical resident selection.
• To identify the most crucial criteria for selecting surgical residents.
• To assess the reliability of the assessment form and process within and across institutions.
• To document variations in resident selection procedures across Canada.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the critical incident technique to define selection criteria.
• Developed a 10-item rating form with a 5-point scale.
• Conducted interviews with 66 orthopedic surgery candidates across 12 Canadian training programs.
• Analyzed interrater and interpanel reliabilities and correlations between assessment items and final rankings.

Main Results:

• The assessment form demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.71).
• Work ethic, interpersonal qualities, orthopedic experience, and enthusiasm were the strongest predictors of final candidate rank.
• Interrater and interpanel reliabilities within programs were moderate (0.67 and 0.63).
• Low correlations (0.14) were observed in final candidate rankings across programs, indicating significant variability.

Conclusions:

• A standardized, reliable candidate assessment form for surgical residency selection was developed.
• The assessment form showed consistent ratings within individual interviewers.
• While assessments within programs were moderately reliable, there was minimal agreement on candidate quality across different programs.
• The study highlights the need for greater standardization in surgical resident selection processes nationwide.