COVID-19, Virtual Interviews, and the Selection Quandary: How a Program's Digital Footprint Influences the Plastic Surgery Match.

Abstract

Amidst the 2019 to 2020 independent plastic surgery residency interview cycle, the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced nearly half of programs to host virtual interviews in the interest of public safety and to comply with institution/state travel restrictions. The American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons has since announced the suspension of in-person interviews for the 2020 to 2021 application cycle, replacing them with Web-based interviews. Applicant surveys have identified the supreme importance of the perceived interactions with faculty and residents, and information available about the program in making selection decisions.1 In a Web-based format, online presence and a program’s digital footprint now must provide a comprehensive window into a program. Having been a part of the first cohort to experience both in-person and virtual interviews, we feel uniquely positioned to offer our insights on the process and the crucial role of the use of technology. The routine use of social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter by plastic surgery residents and residency programs has been a topic of recent scrutiny. Use guidelines for these platforms are embedded within the Plastic Surgery Milestone Project, a joint initiative of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medial Education and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Furthermore, each program’s specific website is the primary information archive available to prospective applicants. Their respective ease of access, organization, and content can greatly influence an applicant’s perception. Inclusion of rotation schedules, education curriculum, current residents, alumni pathways, salary, current research, and notable publications can change the dynamic of interviews and ultimately affect how applicants rank a program.2 These combined facets—social media presence and robust website—is what we define as a program’s digital footprint. Relegated to virtual interviews, programs were unable to offer tours of facilities, and current residents and faculty were unable to meet potential colleagues in-person. This morphed an intimate experience into a digital one. We three authors had the chance to experience both formats of interviewing; experiences across virtual interviews not only varied in terms of smoothness and polish but also affected how we “felt” about programs afterward. In a survey of applicants, perceived happiness of current residents and the quality of interactions with faculty were the most influential factors in ranking programs.1 This application cycle, although many programs accommodated virtual hangouts with current residents to allow for an informal gathering experience, inherent limitations of this format include a large applicant-to-resident ratio, redundant questions, and disjointed conversation. Given limited personal exchanges, a program’s social media presence became an important surrogate for assessing perceived happiness and interpersonal interactions. Table 1 shows examples of social media substitutes for these lost interpersonal interactions (Table 1). Table 1. - Topics of In-Person Interview Conversation and Their Digital Corollaries* Common In-Person Interview Questions Digital Substitutes Do attending physicians provide intraoperative teaching? • Instagram posts showing attending physicians and residents working together in the operating room on various open and microscopy cases Does the institution support research? • Twitter posts by the program and attending physicians highlighting resident publications•Instagram posts of residents at clinical conferences together, podium presentations, and so forth Is there a community among the residents and do they have time for extracurricular activities? •Instagram posts showing residents together at dinners, sporting events•Facebook group with pictures and videos of residents and their families What is living like in the program’s city? •Instagram posts by residents highlighting the city, parks, dining scenes, sporting venues•Instagram/Twitter link to “a day in the life” point of view video of a resident’s daily activities *This table shows questions that residents find particularly important and are often asked during preinterview dinners and during the interview day. The second column highlights avenues for programs to answer these questions by means of social media. Given the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons announcement, and the lower financial cost to applicants driven mostly by the lack of travel accommodations needed, we anticipate that a wider pool of applications will be accepting interviews offered in the coming year. This will place a larger burden on programs to strengthen their technological abilities and bolster their digital footprint to attract and ultimately match the strongest applicants. DISCLOSURE The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this article. No funding was received for this work.