Journal article
Changes in Residency Applicant Cancellation Patterns with Virtual Interviews: A Single-site Analysis
The western journal of emergency medicine, Vol.25(2), pp.181-185
03/01/2024
DOI: 10.5811/westjem.18487
PMCID: PMC11000553
PMID: 38596915
Abstract
Residency programs transitioned to primarily virtual interviews due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift raised questions regarding expectations and patterns of applicant cancellation timeliness. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in applicant cancellations after transitioning to virtual interviews.
This was a retrospective cohort study of interview data from a three-year emergency medicine residency at a tertiary-care academic medical center. Using archived data from Interview Broker, we examined scheduling patterns between one in-person (2019-2020) and two virtual interview cohorts (2020-2021 and 2021-2022). Our outcomes were the overall cancellation rates relative to interview slots as well as the proportion of cancellations that occurred within 7 or 14 days of the interview date.
There were 453 interview slots and 568 applicants invited. Overall, applicants canceled 17.1% of scheduled interviews. Compared with in-person interviews, applicants canceled significantly fewer virtual interviews (in person: 40/128 (31.3%), virtual year 1: 22/178 (12.4%), virtual year 2: 15/143 (10.5%),
= 0.001). Conversely, applicants canceled significantly more virtual interviews within both the 14-day threshold (in person: 8/40 (20%), virtual year 1: 12/22 (55.5%), virtual year 2: 12/15 (80%),
< 0.001) and the 7-day threshold (in person: 0/40 (0%), virtual year 1: 3/22 (13.6%), virtual year 2: 4/15 (26.7%),
= 0.004).
While limited, at our site, changing to a virtual interview format correlated with fewer cancellations overall. The proportion of cancellations within 14 days was much higher during virtual interview seasons, with most cancellations occurring during that time frame. Additional studies are needed to determine the effects of cancellation patterns on emergency medicine recruitment.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Changes in Residency Applicant Cancellation Patterns with Virtual Interviews: A Single-site Analysis
- Creators
- Meryll Bouldin - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesCarly Eastin - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesRachael Freeze-Ramsey - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesAmanda Young - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesMeredith von Dohlen - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesLauren Evans - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesTravis Eastin - University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesSarah Greenberger - University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The western journal of emergency medicine, Vol.25(2), pp.181-185
- DOI
- 10.5811/westjem.18487
- PMID
- 38596915
- PMCID
- PMC11000553
- ISSN
- 1936-900X
- eISSN
- 1936-9018
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- Emergency Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984702817202771
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