Vascular virtual interviews for the 2020-2021 National Residency Matching Program during the COVID-19 pandemic early experience and lessons learned

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The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted our traditional daily interactions. Vascular residency interviews are a part of the national matching programs. Programs need to seek and find the best candidates, while at the same time the candidates need to make assessments and rank choices about the programs for the match to be successful. This COVID-19 match-year offered the adoption of virtual interviews as one approach to mediate and manage the spread of COVID-19. Traditionally, residency and fellowship training program applications have been on-site and in-person interviews. However, to cope with and manage the general social distance protocols, our program along with many others has adopted the virtual interview for 2021 vascular residency applications.1Robinson KA, Shin B, Gangadharan SP. A Comparison Between In-Person and Virtual Fellowship Interviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic [e-pub ahead of print]. J Surg Educ.Google Scholar As with any new innovation, we dealt with many concerns and fears, and had to resolve multiple technological dilemmas. In-person interviews with all its main components of assessing all potential candidates normally require the interaction with other residents, attending physicians, and staff. The candidates need time to talk about their life, skills, accomplishments, activities, and future planning. They also need to know the general dynamic of the institution, which includes the operating room, cardio dynamic laboratory, resident on-call room, and so on. The main concern is how to transition all of the normal candidate interviews into a virtual one. A virtual visit would be sufficient to validate a final recommendation for ranking. In light of this concern, our faculty adopted a virtual approach that used evidence-based practices. First, we developed a general process flow and protocols for the structure of the interview. Next, we tested the audiovisual equipment and performed mock interviews. On the basis of a panel review, we discussed our recent experiences with the virtual interview process. On the basis of personal perceived experiences, we discussed and summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual interview format. Also, we outlined and summarized the candidates' personal experiences through a survey questionnaire that was distributed via email before the virtual interview. We discussed and described all potential biases that may have been intensified by the virtual interview format, and discussed how to prepare for an upcoming generation of interviews based on the new era of virtualism.2Bernstein S.A. Gu A. Chretien K.C. Gold J.A. Graduate medical education virtual interviews and recruitment in the era of COVID-19.J Grad Med Educ. 2020; 12: 557-560Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar, 3Chesney T.R. Bogach J. Devaud N. Govindarajan A. Wright F.C. How we did it: creating virtual interviews for postgraduate medical trainee recruitment and keeping it personal.Ann Surg. 2021; 273: e60-e62Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar, 4Hill M.V. Bleicher R.J. Farma J.M. A how-to guide: virtual interviews in the era of social distancing.J Surg Educ. 2021; 78: 321-323Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar, 5Jones R.E. Abdelfattah K.R. Virtual interviews in the era of COVID-19: a primer for applicants.J Surg Educ. 2020; 77: 733-734Crossref PubMed Scopus (79) Google Scholar, 6McKinley S.K. Fong Z.V. Udelsman B. Rickert C.G. Successful virtual interviews: perspectives from recent surgical fellowship applicants and advice for both applicants and programs.Ann Surg. 2021; 273: e55-e59Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar Finally, we also prepared a proposed agenda for conducting vascular virtual interviews and discussed the possibility of developing electronic materials and local virtual social events to approximate the interview day.4Hill M.V. Bleicher R.J. Farma J.M. A how-to guide: virtual interviews in the era of social distancing.J Surg Educ. 2021; 78: 321-323Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar We believe that with adequate preparation, the virtual interview experience can yield positive and equitable results for both applicants and graduate medical education training programs.