Webinar during COVID-19 Improves Knowledge of Changes to the Plastic Surgery Residency Application Process

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Residency Admissions

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional plastic surgery residency applications, notably by suspending visiting sub-internship rotations.
• This created a need for alternative methods to inform and support prospective residents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the impact of a webinar on the confidence levels of applicants interested in plastic surgery residency.
• To assess the effectiveness of online educational tools in the context of residency applications.

Main Methods:

• A webinar was conducted by the Harvard Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program for 192 registered participants.
• Poll questions were administered during the webinar, followed by a post-webinar survey.

Main Results:

• The survey achieved a 68.2% response rate (n = 131).
• Participants reported increased confidence in matching into plastic surgery residency post-webinar (P < 0.001).
• Lower initial confidence was noted among students without a home institution program (P = 0.009) or those lacking research/time off experience (P = 0.034).

Conclusions:

• Online webinars effectively enhance confidence among medical students pursuing plastic surgery residency.
• Residency programs should integrate webinars into their strategy for informing and assisting applicants, especially during application seasons.