Reimagining general surgery resident selection: Collaborative innovation through design thinking.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Applicant Selection

Background:

• Surgery residency selection is complex, opaque, and prone to bias.
• Current processes offer limited avenues for resident input or change.
• Addressing these issues is crucial for improving the quality and equity of surgical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the utility of design thinking as a framework for surgical residents to address challenges in the selection process.
• To generate actionable solutions and prototypes for improving surgery residency applicant selection.

Main Methods:

• A design thinking framework was employed by the Collaboration of Surgical Education Fellows (CoSEF).
• Two virtual focus groups were conducted: one for pain point identification and solution generation, and another for prototype design.
• Participants brainstormed solutions to identified pain points in resident selection.

Main Results:

• Sixteen CoSEF members participated, identifying 12 pain points and 57 potential solutions.
• Pain points and solutions were categorized into transparency, fairness, and applicant experience.
• Five prototype ideas were developed for rapid testing to enhance resident selection.

Conclusions:

• Design thinking offers a valuable framework for surgical residents to creatively solve problems in surgical training.
• This methodology can complement existing research methods in surgical education.
• Further work is required to implement and test the developed prototypes as interventions.