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Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs: Are We Assessing the Right Criteria?: Comment on “Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs”

Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs: Are We... The annual ritual of screening Electronic Residency Application Service applications, reading personal statements, and interviewing candidates to create a ranking for the residency match is time consuming and may be frustrating if a program does not match with its top candidates. Perhaps most concerning to the process is that some of our most highly ranked candidates actually do not perform well as residents, and a few fail completely. Stain et al1 identified the characteristics of the top-ranked candidates at 22 different programs. It is not surprising that academic performance was the most important factor and that personal statements were not useful for the final ranking. Perhaps the most important part of their study is their description of limitations, including many applicant characteristics not evaluated in this study that may be important for successful completion of a residency program and ultimate success as a surgeon. We are quickly moving into a new era of accrediting residency programs based on outcomes, and programs will be required to evaluate each resident's level of achievement for certain milestones of competence not only for medical knowledge and patient care but also for practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, communication, and professionalism.2 We encourage the authors to follow up on the applicants in this study throughout residency and report on their outcomes. Identifying those candidate attributes that can predict achieving proficiency for all milestones may allow us the opportunity to develop a more useful process for resident selection. Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Hebert, Department of Surgery, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Fletcher Allen Health Care, 111 Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT 05401 (james.hebert@vtmednet.org). Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported. References 1. Stain SC, Hiatt JR, Ata A, et al. Characteristics of highly ranked applicants to general surgery residency programs. JAMA Surg. 2013;148(5):413-417Google Scholar 2. Nasca TJ, Philibert I, Brigham T, Flynn TC. The next GME accreditation system—rationale and benefits. N Engl J Med. 2012;366(11):1051-105622356262PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png JAMA Surgery American Medical Association

Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs: Are We Assessing the Right Criteria?: Comment on “Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs”

Hebert, James C.
JAMA Surgery , Volume 148 (5) – May 1, 2013
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Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs: Are We Assessing the Right Criteria?: Comment on “Characteristics of Highly Ranked Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs”

Abstract

The annual ritual of screening Electronic Residency Application Service applications, reading personal statements, and interviewing candidates to create a ranking for the residency match is time consuming and may be frustrating if a program does not match with its top candidates. Perhaps most concerning to the process is that some of our most highly ranked candidates actually do not perform well as residents, and a few fail completely. Stain et al1 identified the characteristics of the...
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References (2)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
2168-6254
eISSN
2168-6262
DOI
10.1001/jamasurg.2013.2333
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The annual ritual of screening Electronic Residency Application Service applications, reading personal statements, and interviewing candidates to create a ranking for the residency match is time consuming and may be frustrating if a program does not match with its top candidates. Perhaps most concerning to the process is that some of our most highly ranked candidates actually do not perform well as residents, and a few fail completely. Stain et al1 identified the characteristics of the top-ranked candidates at 22 different programs. It is not surprising that academic performance was the most important factor and that personal statements were not useful for the final ranking. Perhaps the most important part of their study is their description of limitations, including many applicant characteristics not evaluated in this study that may be important for successful completion of a residency program and ultimate success as a surgeon. We are quickly moving into a new era of accrediting residency programs based on outcomes, and programs will be required to evaluate each resident's level of achievement for certain milestones of competence not only for medical knowledge and patient care but also for practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice, communication, and professionalism.2 We encourage the authors to follow up on the applicants in this study throughout residency and report on their outcomes. Identifying those candidate attributes that can predict achieving proficiency for all milestones may allow us the opportunity to develop a more useful process for resident selection. Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Hebert, Department of Surgery, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Fletcher Allen Health Care, 111 Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT 05401 (james.hebert@vtmednet.org). Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported. References 1. Stain SC, Hiatt JR, Ata A, et al. Characteristics of highly ranked applicants to general surgery residency programs. JAMA Surg. 2013;148(5):413-417Google Scholar 2. Nasca TJ, Philibert I, Brigham T, Flynn TC. The next GME accreditation system—rationale and benefits. N Engl J Med. 2012;366(11):1051-105622356262PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref

Journal

JAMA Surgery – American Medical Association

Published: May 1, 2013

Keywords: internship and residency,general surgery

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