General surgery residency interviews: are we following best practices?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Residency Selection

Background:

• Interviews are critical for selecting general surgery residents.
• Research highlights blinded interviews and standardized questions as best practices for interview utility and accuracy.
• Current adoption of these best practices in surgical residency programs is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the current interview practices in general surgery residency programs.
• To assess the implementation of established best practices in surgical residency interviews.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was administered to program directors of accredited surgery residency programs in the US and Canada.
• The survey comprised 26 questions focused on interview processes and best practice utilization.

Main Results:

• 108 responses (40% participation rate) were analyzed.
• 90% of programs base at least 25% of their final ranking on interview scores.
• Only 20% of programs utilize interviewer blinding, and 5% use standardized questions.

Conclusions:

• There is limited use of blinded interviews and standardized questions in general surgery residency selection.
• A discrepancy exists between evidence-based best practices and current program implementation.
• Opportunities for improving the resident selection process through enhanced interview strategies are apparent.