Digital Resources for Residency Recruitment: A Pilot Study of What Applicants Really Utilize

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to multiple changes in graduate medical education programs across the country, including the switch to virtual interviews for all residency applicants instead of on-site visits. The rapid transition to virtual interviews introduced challenges, including limited opportunities to formally and informally interact with residents and faculty, observe the clinical and educational environments, and explore the local culture and community. As a result, programs were advised to heavily invest in and create comprehensive digital resources including but not limited to video tours and multimedia resources describing programmatic details.

In preparation for the virtual interview season of 2020-2021, digital recruitment materials were created for the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Anesthesiology residency applicants to provide the information that they would traditionally receive during an in-person interview experience. The objectives of the study were (1) to assess which digital materials residency applicants accessed most frequently during the interview season, and (2) to determine if the digital materials were helpful for the residency applicant in best determining program fit as part of the interview process. A post-interview survey and user analytics were analyzed.

With a survey response rate of 58% (n = 87 of 150) and a Web-based email-open rate of 98% (n =147 of 150), the data revealed that the favored digital materials were the "What Residents Say" video and the Residency Applicant Handbook. These were also the most helpful for the residency applicant in best determining program fit.

This study shows that resources that allowed students to better assess their "fit" in the program were highly accessed and valued, as were detailed descriptions of the clinical and educational aspects of the training program found in the resident handbook.