Melanie Alfonzo Horowitz, Albert Antar, James Feghali, Carly Weber-Levine, Shahab Aldin Sattari, Risheng Xu, Daniel Lubelski, Timothy F Witham, Debraj Mukherjee, Mari Groves, Henry Brem, Judy Huang
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Neurosurgery remains one of the most competitive residency programs with an increasing application volume. Signaling was introduced to allow applicants to express interest in specific programs and streamline program director application review; however, there are limited data on how signaling affects interview invitations in neurosurgery. This study investigates the impact of signaling on interview invitation odds and subsequent residency program selection.
Methods: The authors analyzed data from 93 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited neurosurgery residency programs from the 2024 application cycle, sourced from the Residency Explorer platform. A signal strength index (SSI) was created using two metrics: odds ratio (OR) of receiving an invitation to interview for signaling and nonsignaling applicants and absolute difference in interview rates between these applicant groups. Correlations among SSI, Doximity program rankings, and program location were also examined. Statistical significance was set at an α of 0.05.
Results: Signaling a program significantly influenced interview invitations, with 19 programs (20.4%) inviting only applicants who signaled their institution and 65 programs (69.9%) inviting < 10% of applicants who did not signal the program. Doximity program rankings were weakly correlated with the SSI (Pearson's r = 0.26, p = 0.01) and moderately correlated with a program's OR rank (Pearson's r = 0.44, p < 0.01). After controlling for Doximity rank, program size was negatively correlated with the OR rank (Pearson's r = -0.26, p = 0.01). The geographic location of a program did not correlate with the SSI (p = 0.48).
Conclusions: Signaling plays a key role in neurosurgery residency interview invitations, with its impact varying across programs based on factors like program rank and competitiveness. The SSI represents a comprehensive tool for applicants to assess which programs to signal, optimizing their chances of receiving an offer to interview.
目的：神经外科仍然是最具竞争力的住院医师项目之一，申请量不断增加。引入信号是为了让申请人表达对特定项目的兴趣，并简化项目主管的申请审查；然而，关于信号如何影响神经外科面试邀请的数据有限。本研究探讨了信号对面试邀请几率和后续住院医师项目选择的影响。方法：作者分析了来自2024年申请周期的93个研究生医学教育认证委员会认可的神经外科住院医师项目的数据，这些数据来自住院医师探索者平台。信号强度指数（SSI）使用两个指标创建：信号申请人和非信号申请人收到面试邀请的比值比（OR）和这些申请人群体之间面试率的绝对差异。我们还研究了SSI、Doximity项目排名和项目位置之间的相关性。差异有统计学意义，α = 0.05。结果：项目信号对面试邀请有显著影响，19个项目（20.4%）只邀请向其机构发出信号的申请人，65个项目（69.9%）邀请不到10%没有发出项目信号的申请人。邻近项目排名与SSI呈弱相关（Pearson’s r = 0.26, p = 0.01），与项目OR排名呈中度相关（Pearson’s r = 0.44, p < 0.01）。在控制邻域等级后，项目规模与OR等级呈负相关（Pearson’s r = -0.26, p = 0.01）。项目的地理位置与SSI无关（p = 0.48）。结论：信号在神经外科住院医师面试邀请中起着关键作用，其影响因项目排名和竞争力等因素而异。SSI代表了一个全面的工具，为申请人评估哪些项目发出信号，优化他们接受面试的机会。
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, and Neurosurgical Focus are devoted to the publication of original works relating primarily to neurosurgery, including studies in clinical neurophysiology, organic neurology, ophthalmology, radiology, pathology, and molecular biology. The Editors and Editorial Boards encourage submission of clinical and laboratory studies. Other manuscripts accepted for review include technical notes on instruments or equipment that are innovative or useful to clinicians and researchers in the field of neuroscience; papers describing unusual cases; manuscripts on historical persons or events related to neurosurgery; and in Neurosurgical Focus, occasional reviews. Letters to the Editor commenting on articles recently published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, and Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics are welcome.
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