North American urogynecology fellowship programs: value of program website content

Area of Science:

• Urogynecology fellowship program evaluation
• Medical education website analysis
• Subspecialty recruitment strategies

Background:

• Urogynecology fellowship websites are crucial information sources for prospective applicants.
• The COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions highlight the importance of online resources.
• Evaluating current website content is essential for promoting the urogynecology subspecialty.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the publicly available information on American and Canadian urogynecology fellowship program websites.
• To identify strengths and weaknesses in website content based on defined criteria.
• To provide recommendations for enhancing website content to better serve potential applicants.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of all active American and Canadian urogynecology fellowship program websites (May-June 2020).
• Utilized 72 criteria across sections including Recruitment, Faculty, Fellows, Research, Education, Surgical Program, Clinical Work, Benefits, Wellness, and Environment.
• Quantitative scoring of website content prevalence and quality.

Main Results:

• 54 US and 11 Canadian websites were analyzed; US websites scored significantly higher (46.46%) than Canadian websites (27.40%).
• US websites excelled in 'Wellness' content, while Canadian websites had stronger 'Faculty Information'.
• Both regions showed low scores in 'Clinical Work' content, with Canadian sites also lacking in 'Benefits and Career Planning' information.

Conclusions:

• American and Canadian urogynecology fellowship websites demonstrate varying levels of content completeness.
• US programs effectively cover wellness aspects, while Canadian programs provide more faculty details.
• Enhancing content on benefits, career planning, and clinical work is recommended for both US and Canadian programs to improve applicant resources.