Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the residency application process. The lack of an in-person interview experience, the inability to conduct department visits, and the limitations imposed on pursuing away rotations have restricted applicants. This change has placed more emphasis on the online presence of residency programs and exposed several deficits pertaining to virtual content available to applicants. Many residency program websites are inadequate and unable to meet these new demands. The purpose of this study was to collect and organize potential areas for improvement—as proposed by students—regarding the available website information put forth by interventional radiology residency programs. Materials and Methods: Medical students were invited to attend a virtual webinar with multiple residency program directors to discuss the application process. After the webinar discussion, attendees were asked to submit topics and information they deemed to be important when applying to residency programs. These submissions were then organized according to certain themes and quantified. Results: Seventy-eight submitted responses to the following question: “When visiting an IR/DR Program’s website, what important pieces of information are you looking for?” Many responses consisted of multiple components and thus are encompassed within several themes. The major themes and their corresponding response percentages are as follows: advice regarding application (21%), case types and volume (14%), advice regarding rotations (13%), Step exam averages (9%), curriculum schedule (8%), unique traits and program diversity (8%), insights from current residents (6%), and research opportunities (6%). Other minor themes include mentorship opportunities, resident support services, video profiles of faculty, and patient population demographics. Conclusions: Analysis of these responses revealed certain consistent topics of information that are considered by students when applying to the NRMP. These can be potential objectives for residency programs to pursue in order to optimize their appeal to applicants. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly restructured medical education and the residency application process. Therefore, to both accommodate these changes and promote resident training, programs can strengthen their online presence by tailoring their websites to include important information for applicants’ consideration. This will not only better inform prospective students but may also augment the number of applicants.
Abstract No. 209 Methods to improve residency program website content for medical students amid the COVID-19 pandemic