Abstract
IntroductionResidency coordinators may be overwhelmed when scheduling residency interviews. Applicants often have to coordinate interviews with multiple programs at once, and relying on verbal or email confirmation may delay the process. Our objective was to determine applicant mean time to schedule and satisfaction using online scheduling.MethodsThis pilot study is a retrospective analysis performed on a sample of applicants offered interviews at an urban county emergency medicine residency. Applicants were asked their estimated time to schedule with the online system compared to their average time using other methods. In addition, they were asked on a five-point anchored scale to rate their satisfaction.ResultsOf 171 applicants, 121 completed the survey (70.8%). Applicants were scheduling an average of 13.3 interviews. Applicants reported scheduling interviews using the online system in mean of 46.2 minutes (median 10, range 1–1800) from the interview offer as compared with a mean of 320.2 minutes (median 60, range 3–2880) for other programs not using this system. This difference was statistically significant. In addition, applicants were more likely to rate their satisfaction using the online system as “satisfied” (83.5% vs 16.5%). Applicants were also more likely to state that they preferred scheduling their interviews using the online system rather than the way other programs scheduled interviews (74.2% vs 4.1%) and that the online system aided them coordinating travel arrangements (52.1% vs 4.1%).ConclusionAn online interview scheduling system is associated with higher satisfaction among applicants both in coordinating travel arrangements and in overall satisfaction.
Highlights
Residency coordinators may be overwhelmed when scheduling residency interviews
Our objective was to determine applicant mean time to schedule and satisfaction using online scheduling. This pilot study is a retrospective analysis performed on a sample of applicants offered interviews at an urban county emergency medicine residency
Applicants reported scheduling interviews using the online system in mean of 46.2 minutes from the interview offer as compared with a mean of 320.2 minutes for other programs not using this system
Summary
Residency coordinators may be overwhelmed when scheduling residency interviews. Our objective was to determine applicant mean time to schedule and satisfaction using online scheduling. Residency administration may be overwhelmed with scheduling residency interviews. We estimated scheduling and rescheduling interviews took 40hrs of administrator time the first week and 10hrs each subsequent week for the three weeks each year. A commercial online scheduling system that was available at all hours of the day might make the interview scheduling process easier for applicants and be a significant resource-saving investment for programs. An ideal system would allow both initial scheduling and would allow changing/rescheduling of interviews later. Such a system might improve the experience for both applicants and for program coordinators. A prior study of a university-based, custom single site scheduling system, showed a 77% preference for scheduling interviews online.[1]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
