Implementing Holistic Review Practices in a Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Graduate Medical Education
• Socioeconomic Disparities in Medicine

Background:

• Medical schools and graduate medical education programs utilize holistic review to enhance enrollment of underrepresented students.
• Literature on holistic review implementation at the fellowship level remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the implementation of the Association of American Medical Colleges core principles of holistic review in a fellowship program.
• To assess faculty and fellow perceptions of holistic review training and its impact on recruitment.

Main Methods:

• A partially asynchronous, online training strategy was employed to educate division members on holistic review principles.
• A post-implementation survey evaluated faculty and fellow opinions on the training and its application.

Main Results:

• Training improved understanding of holistic review, leading to the adoption of broader selection criteria beyond traditional metrics.
• A majority of respondents agreed holistic review reduces socioeconomic disparities (79.2% faculty, 80.0% fellows) and promotes diversity (83.3% faculty, 90.0% fellows).
• Yearly repetition of training was deemed critical by all respondents.

Conclusions:

• Implementing holistic review in fellowship recruitment is feasible and positively received by faculty and fellows.
• The study highlights the potential of holistic review to enhance diversity and equity in fellowship selection.