The Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellowship application webinar series: a novel approach to helping applicants succeed

In 2022, 13,586 candidates applied to subspecialty fellowships. Formal resources to inform candidates on subspecialty-specific fellowship application are limited. Candidates rely on residency application experience, informal advice, and online research for navigating the application process. Thus, a need exists for formal subspecialty-specific fellowship application guidance. The American Academy of Pediatrics Organization of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Training Program Directors (ONTPD) and Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists (TECaN) created a webinar-based curriculum to help educate trainees about the application process and recruit diverse fellowship applicants.

In 2022, ONTPD and TECaN co-hosted and implemented a four-part national webinar series focused on different aspects of the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) fellowship application and interview processes. Webinars were advertised through list-servs and social media, conducted in two time zones, and recorded for asynchronous viewing. Registration, demographic data, and questions for webinar panelists were collected via electronic survey. Program evaluation data was collected after each webinar and following the fellowship match.

In the 2022 appointment year, 310 candidates participated in the NPM fellowship match and 250 individuals registered for the webinar series. A quarter (26%) of registrants identified as underrepresented in medicine. Most registrants reported minimal or no knowledge of the fellowship application (64%, 158/248) and interview (81%, 201/248) processes. The majority of registrants (70%, 173/248) were planning on applying to fellowship in 2022, and 91% of post-webinar respondents (43/47) felt the webinars were moderately or extremely helpful, a finding that was sustained beyond the match (37/42). Almost all respondents rated the quality of the webinars as good or higher and were likely or very likely to recommend them to peers (39/42). There was considerable variability amongst respondents in the number of fellowship programs applied to, interviewed at, and ranked, and factors influencing rank list.

We describe a virtual curriculum to prepare trainees for the NPM fellowship application and interview process. This webinar series provides needed education to fellowship candidates, bridges the gap between candidate knowledge and program director expectations, is generalizable to other specialties, and can be replicated with minimal resources.