Neurosurgery Residency Websites: A Critical Evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Web Accessibility

Background:

• Medical students heavily rely on neurosurgery residency websites for application decisions.
• Previous studies highlight the importance of online resources in residency selection.
• There is a need to assess the current state of neurosurgery residency websites.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accessibility and content of educational and recruitment information on Neurosurgery Residency Websites (NRWs).
• To identify gaps in online information provided by neurosurgery residency programs.
• To correlate program characteristics with website comprehensiveness.

Main Methods:

• Accessed program lists from FREIDA, ERAS, and AANS for the 2015 Match.
• Assessed NRWs for information accessibility, program contact responsiveness, and the presence of recruitment and educational variables.
• Correlated program size and affiliation with website content.

Main Results:

• All 103 neurosurgery programs had a website, with AANS providing the most viable links (63%).
• Email response rates from programs were low (46%), and a minority of recruitment (46%) and educational (49%) variables were available.
• Larger programs and those affiliated with ranked institutions had more comprehensive online content.

Conclusions:

• The current neurosurgery residency websites offer limited content, presenting an opportunity for improvement.
• Enhancing content relevance, findability, and adherence to web design principles can increase NRW usability.
• Optimizing online resources is essential to support medical students in their neurosurgery training applications.