A welcoming change: Quality improvement project to improve new radiology residents' early experiences

Diagnostic radiology residents often face challenges transitioning from medical school and internship to radiology residency. To address this, senior residents in our program developed a Welcoming Committee (WC) to initiate early communication with matched applicants and support incoming radiology residents as they transition.

A resident-led WC was developed by senior residents to support newly matched applicants. Matched applicants were added to a messaging platform for senior residents to communicate important program updates and answer questions. During the first week of residency, WC members organized workshops to discuss topics that may benefit incoming residents. An anonymous electronic survey was sent to first-year residents, who received WC interventions, and senior residents, who transitioned to radiology residency before the establishment of the WC. Responses were scored using a Likert scale to quantify the level of agreement or disagreement. Standard statistical methods and Mann-Whitney analysis were used to compare the responses between groups.

First-year residents felt they understood expectations for their rotations, felt more comfortable asking questions, felt their questions were more adequately answered, and were more enthusiastic about starting rotations than senior residents, differences that were statistically significant.

The establishment of a resident-led WC to communicate with and advise matched applicants prior to first-year rotations appeared to improve perceptions of firstyear radiology residents regarding preparation, communication, enthusiasm, rotation experiences, and comfort in asking questions. These findings underscore the potential of resident-led interventions to improve the quality of the orientation and onboarding process for first-year radiology residents.