Moving the Needle: Program Directors' Views on the Recruitment of Diverse Trainees to Plastic Surgery Residency

The plastic surgery workforce lacks racial and ethnic diversity. Traditionally, United States Medical Licensing Examination scores have been used as the initial screening tool for most residency programs; however, this can lead to interview selection bias against underrepresented in medicine (URiM) applicants. Understanding the barriers and facilitators to diversifying the specialty from the perspectives of program directors (PDs) may reveal strategies for improvement.

In this mixed methods study, we invited integrated plastic surgery PDs to participate in an online survey and one-on-one semistructured interviews to understand their perspectives on the application process, interview day, and strategies to improve recruitment and retention of URiM trainees. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey data. Interviews were deidentified, transcribed, and analyzed inductively to generate themes based on patterns observed across narratives.

Of 108 PDs and assistant PDs, 29 (26.9%) responded to the survey and 8 participated in semistructured interviews. We identified 3 broad themes: (1) resident diversity is important for patient care and education, (2) lack of exposure and longitudinal mentorship are barriers to matriculation, and (3) program culture change can shift trends in the recruitment of URiM trainees.

PDs value the racial and ethnic diversity of trainees and are in favor of efforts to increase representation in the field. Improving mentorship and reducing bias in the application process are necessary strategies to increase representation in plastic surgery.