Twice as Nice: How Doubling Otolaryngology Rotation Time Affects the Intern Experience Nationwide

Describe the current state of otolaryngologic residency training with recent changes to the program requirements by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) which increased the amount of time on intern year otolaryngology rotations from 3 to 6 months.

A cross-sectional study was performed and recruitment was done via personalized email sent to program coordinators of 113 ACGME-accredited otolaryngology training programs within the Unites States. The message requested a breakdown of the amount of time and specialty in which first year otolaryngologic residents rotated. Interval follow ups were sent at 3 and 6 months for coordinators who had not responded.

Response rate was 79.7% (90/113). General surgery and surgical intensive care unit were the two most common non-otolaryngologic rotations (92.2% and 96.6% respectively) while ophthalmology and radiation oncology were the least common at 7.8% each. All first year residents spend time on an inpatient otolaryngologic rotation, while 30.7% spend time on outpatient rotations. The most common subspecialties were head and neck oncology (40.0%) followed by pediatric otolaryngology (36.0%).

Otolaryngologic training continues to become more slanted towards specialty-specific training and a concurrent reduction in "off-service" rotations. General inpatient services still predominate the intern year both inter- and intra-departmentally. These data provide insight into the training environment of the otolaryngologic trainees set to graduate residency for the first time this year.