Of 186 residency and fellowship program directors, 83 (44.6%) responded to the 20-item survey. Not all respondents answered each question. Of the 83 respondents, 29 (34.9%) were in a primary care specialty area (eg, family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics). Of the remaining respondents, 28 (33.7%) were in a surgical subspecialty; 12 (14.5%) were in emergency medicine; and 14 (16.9%) were in cardiology, neuromusculoskeletal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, radiology, and sports medicine programs. The majority of respondents (69 [83.1%]) represented AOA-only programs, and 14 (16.9%) were from AOA/ACGME programs.
The characteristics rated as most important by respondents were ethical behavior/honesty; being a team player and fitting in with existing team dynamics; and self-motivation (
Figure 1).
Of 83 respondents, 13 (15.7%) reported using specific method(s) to assess ethical behavior/honesty, 20 (24.1%) reported using tools or method(s) to assess team dynamics, and 2 (2.4%) reported using a method to evaluate self-motivation. Initial inferential data analysis indicated no significant correlation between quantity of interview screening methods aimed at assessing candidates’ personal characteristics and subsequent satisfaction with selected residents’ program performance (Pearson r=0.026, P=.83).
No notable differences were found in the specific methods used by AOA-only programs and AOA/ACGME programs. No substantial differences were found in interview methods used by surgical, nonsurgical, and primary care residency programs, or the respondents’ later satisfaction levels with residents who had been admitted into their programs.
The 3 most frequently reported candidate assessment methods used during the interview stage were one-on-one faculty interviews (52 [62.7%]), faculty panel interviews (40 [48.8%]), and interviews with current residents (73 [89.0%]) (
Figure 2).
A majority of programs (79 [95.2%]) reported using multiple methods as part of the interview process. Between 1 and 8 different methods were incorporated into the total interview screening process of individual residency programs, including methods such as ethical problem-solving exercises, medical knowledge tests, and team collaboration exercises. A 1-way analysis of variance demonstrated a nonsignificant correlation between the number of screening interview methods used by respondents beyond some form of interview and later satisfaction with selected residents (F23,71=0.296, P=.83). Respondents reported later regretting nearly 1 in every 12 resident selections (8.3%) they had made during the previous 5 academic years.