The effect of virtual interviews on the musculoskeletal radiology fellowship match

Resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual interview format was adopted in lieu of in-person interviews for fellowship recruitment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential effect that virtual interviews have on musculoskeletal radiology fellowship match results and collect opinions of the process.

An anonymous survey was sent to 87 listed US-based musculoskeletal radiology fellowship directors, who were asked for their 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 match data: fellowship positions, interviewees, ranked interviewees, and matched ranks. They rated effectiveness of virtual interviews on a ten-point scale (1 poor-10 excellent) and provided an ideal percentage of future interviews to be conducted virtually.

Thirty responses were received (34.4% response rate). Primary analysis found significant increase in the mean number of candidates ranked in 2020-2021, 14.6 to 17.5 (p = 0.047). The mean rank of matched applicants increased from 6.02 to 6.43, without significance (p = 0.821). Secondary analysis, which attempted to exclude internally matched programs, found significant increases in 2020-2021 in the mean number of applicants-28.7 to 32.4 (p = 0.017), interviews conducted-17.8 to 21.3 (p = 0.007), and candidates ranked by programs-16.3 to 19.8 (p = 0.015). The mean rank of matched applicants increased from 6.39 to 7.03, without significance (p = 0.713).

With results showing an increase in applications, interviews conducted, and ranked applicants while lowering the average rank of matched candidates, musculoskeletal radiology fellowship directors should consider interviewing more applicants than they usually would in the prior in-person recruitment format.