Fellowship recruitment: Which factors influence orthopaedic applicants to choose a combined arthroplasty/trauma...

To prepare junior surgeons for possible increased trauma call burden and improve young surgeons' workplace marketability, there has been an increase in fellowship programs offering combined arthroplasty and trauma curriculums. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative importance of factors considered by applicants applying to combined programs. This information will serve program directors, who can improve applicant recruitment, along with improving the experiences of fellows.

Survey respondents were asked to rate 23 fellowship program factors on a 1-to-5 Likert scale with 1 being "not important at all" and 5 being "critical". Respondents were also asked to list their top 5 factors in order of decreasing importance with 1 being the most important. A two-sample t-test was used to analyze subgroups. Statistical significance defined as P-value < 0.05.

Surveys were sent to 192 applicants, and 75 responses were received with a 39.1 % response rate. The overall highest rated factors were operative experience (mean 4.87; SD 0.34), revision total joint experience (mean 4.61; SD 0.61), periprosthetic fracture experience (mean 4.52; SD 0.60), and primary total joint experience (mean 4.17; SD 0.86). A subgroup analysis was performed by creating three groups: surgical experience, program details and history, and financial factors. Surgical experience group was ranked highest (mean 3.81; SD 1.72). Programs details and history (mean 3.12; SD 1.05) and financial factors (mean 2.35; SD 1.08) rated significantly lower than surgical experience (P-value < 0.01).

Applicants of combined arthroplasty and trauma fellowships value similar characteristics in a program as those applying to either arthroplasty or trauma alone. Combined fellowship programs should update their websites as applicants frequently use online sources to educate themselves on existing programs.