Recently matched students are effective residency application teachers.

Abstract

Applying to residency is one of the most stressful challenges of a medical student's career and is associated with high rates of burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation.1 Depending on the school and desired specialty, there are a variety of sources for advice such as faculty career advisors, medical school deans and guidebooks. Despite these resources, many students still do not feel adequately advised. Peer teachers are well-positioned to frame teaching at the level of students' understanding and foster more comfortable learning environments. Aside from student panels, there are no described accounts in the medical literature of recently matched medical students being actively involved in residency application advising, despite their unique position to provide highly relevant and timely advice to their underclassmen. At the Robert Larner, MD, College of Medicine at the University of Vermont (LCOM), three graduating medical students developed official course material in the form of videos and PowerPoint presentations about the residency application process for 60 incoming fourth-year students registered for their ‘transition to fourth year’ course, which is currently offered as an elective at LCOM. Materials included an overview of the residency application process, a guide to the supplemental application and a compilation of specialty-specific advice from all recently matched students in the class. They also organised a live panel of recently matched students that was open to all 124 incoming fourth-year medical students and attended by approximately 50 students (40%). Students registered for the course were asked to complete a post-course survey evaluation on a five-point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree). 39 of 60 registered students (65%) completed the survey. Students only evaluated the sessions they attended, and some survey questions were skipped, which accounts for the variable denominators below. IRB exemption was obtained prior to survey development. Results were overwhelmingly positive with the majority of students (27/30, 90%) agreeing or strongly agreeing that this content ‘is more effectively delivered by my peers than by faculty or administrators’. Most respondents (26/31, 83.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that having recently matched students advise them ‘reduced their stress and anxiety about the residency application process’ and 80.6% (25/31) agreed that ‘recently matched students should be even more involved in their advising’. Recently matched students are acutely aware of the level of detail that incoming fourth-year students find the most relevant, especially considering the dynamic virtual interview environment and new supplemental application. There are shared experiences and requirements in the residency application process for which recently matched students can provide invaluable information. We facilitated this connection through integration into a fourth-year elective. We also learned that as details became more granular and specialty specific, it was difficult to provide sufficient specialty representation. In smaller specialties where there are fewer matched students or no affiliated residency programmes, additional support should be provided by faculty, residency programmes or virtual communities (social media, other online forums). Ultimately, a multifaceted approach is needed, which includes recently matched students, residents, faculty, administrators, virtual communities and other resources. Richard Brach designed curricular materials and the survey, analysed results, and wrote the manuscript. Allison Tzeng designed the residency supplemental application PowerPoint and other curricular materials and assisted with survey and manuscript edits. Hakeem Yousef designed the residency application overview video, organised the student panel, and assisted with survey and manuscript edits. Matthew Tsai initiated this project, designed curricular materials, and provided manuscript edits. Emily Greenberger is the principal investigator and oversaw curricular and survey design as well as the manuscript.