The COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Medical Students and Plastic Surgery Residency Applicants.

Abstract

We read the article entitled “The COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Medical Students and Plastic Surgery Residency Applicants,” by Raj et al.,1 with great interest. Their article brings to light the ubiquitous effects the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has had on prospective plastic surgery resident applicants in the United States. Specifically, the authors note the lost opportunities prospective plastic surgery applicants experienced because of the pandemic and the challenges prospective applicants will face with plastic surgery residency programs.1 As current plastic surgery trainees in the United Kingdom, we cannot help but draw parallels to the authors and their concerns with regard to the impact COVID-19 has had on selection to plastic surgery residency programs in the United Kingdom. With an international readership and with many previous articles in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and PRS Global Open comparing the status and differences in plastic surgery residency programs and selection worldwide,2,3 we wanted to provide insight to the Journal’s readership about some of the effects COVID-19 has had in plastic surgery residency recruitment in the United Kingdom. Unlike in the United States, recruitment into all specific plastic surgery residency positions occurs at a national level via a standardized interview at single location in London.2 The 2020 national selection process for plastic surgery was set to occur in April of 2020. Unfortunately, this was during the height of the pandemic in the United Kingdom (April and May of 2020). Due to countrywide regulations that transport be limited to all but essential travel and concerns that there would be a shortage of medical staff due to increasing medical need, the plastic surgery national residency interviews (as per many other medical interviews) were cancelled and replaced with a modified recruitment process. In plastic surgery, this modified recruitment process involved a review of candidates’ current operative ability, additional qualifications, experience with quality improvement projects, publications, presentations, and teaching experience, which candidates had to declare during submission of their application. Normally, this portfolio of experience contributes approximately 25 percent to the plastic surgery selection process, but in the modified 2020 application process, it became the sole means of ranking applicants. There remained great ambivalence about the validity of such a recruitment process, with some candidates benefiting from these modified arrangements while others were disadvantaged. Notably, there remains great uncertainty as to the state of recruitment to plastic surgery residency programs in the United Kingdom given the unprecedented effects of COVID-19, and we envisage that plastic surgery recruiters and prospective plastic surgery residents share the same uncertainty. One solution may be the introduction of a teleconferencing interview for all applicants. The advent of teleconferencing and telemedicine has been rife in plastic surgery and medicine as a whole during the COVID-19 pandemic.4,5 Backing a teleconferencing interview may enable plastic surgery recruiters to provide a safe and effective interview process that enables the best and most-qualified candidates to be selected while mitigating against the effect of COVID-19 should further waves of the virus present. Ultimately, whatever accommodations are made, the ripples of COVID-19 will undoubtably be felt on the global plastic surgery community for some time to come. DISCLOSURE The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this communication. Yasser Al Omran, B.Sc.(Hons.), M.B.B.S., M.Sc.(Dist.)Department of Burns and Plastic SurgeryChelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation TrustLondon, United Kingdom Sarvnaz Sepehripour, M.B.B.S.Catherine Leng, M.B.B.S.Department of Burns and Plastic SurgeryUniversity Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation TrustBirmingham, United Kingdom