The 2021 Podiatric Residency Candidate and Program Virtual Interview Experience During COVID-19 with Multispecialty...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Graduate Medical Education
• Podiatric Medicine

Background:

• The Centralized Residency Interview Process (CRIP) is crucial for medical and podiatric residency admissions.
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a shift to virtual interviews, altering traditional recruitment methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an organizational update on the CRIP from the Council of Teaching Hospitals (COTH) and the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM).
• To report on the format preferences for the residency interview process among stakeholders.

Main Methods:

• The study involved a survey of residency program directors and student applicants following the return to in-person interviews.
• Data was collected during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Main Results:

• Following the return to in-person interviews in the 2022-2023 academic year, survey data indicates a strong preference for this format.
• A significant majority of both residency program directors and student applicants favor in-person interviews over the previously virtual format.

Conclusions:

• The preferred format for the Centralized Residency Interview Process (CRIP) has shifted back to in-person interviews.
• This finding impacts future planning and logistics for podiatric residency recruitment.