Program Size Research Articles

Schools at the center of a public health emergency: leveraging schools for pediatric COVID-19 vaccination.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's expansion of COVID-19 vaccine eligibility in 2021 to include children presented opportunities and challenges to ensure widespread access. Children, and especially adolescents, were a crucial target population to reduce community positivity rates and support a resumption of in-person academics. Though existing school-based vaccination programs have demonstrated success in improving vaccination rates on an individual school level, best practice strategies for employing mass vaccination programs quickly in response to public health emergencies have yet to be identified. Through established partnerships, School Health Services at Nationwide Children's Hospital led a collaborative effort to employ a rapid, onsite school vaccination strategy across Franklin County for all eligible students. This collaboration resulted in a significant increase in vaccine access carried out through on-site vaccination clinics established in 20 local public and private school districts. Key strategies identified through the process included collaboration with school districts, local hospitals, and the public health department; calibrating program size to each site and number of vaccines needed; and coordination of team member roles. At the same time, experience with the effort also underscored key challenges and opportunities that future programs should consider, especially when operating in public health emergencies. School-based community health approaches targeting adolescents can increase vaccination rates, and can be successfully led by children's health systems in concert with public health departments and schools. At the same time, entities undertaking such efforts must plan in advance to ensure that partnerships can be effectively established with clear protocols for efficient and open communication, which is essential for overcoming barriers in access to healthcare services.

Building back better: Granular energy technologies in green recovery funding programs

Building back better: Granular energy technologies in green recovery funding programs

AUTHOR REPLY

We thank Dr. Lanzotti and Dr. Ellis for their comments and insight. They note that several studies have already looked at the impact of COVID-19 and virtual interviews on the geographical distribution of matched applicants in urology as well as in other specialties; however, ours is the first to consider the size of the residency program during the pandemic. As mentioned, it would be interesting to combine our “small program effect” with the variables studied in previous studies into one analysis. This includes both applicant factors, such as board scores, hometown, and subinternship locations (even if virtual), as well as program factors, such as prestige and location in a city vs a suburb. Some further studies to consider would be to include other small surgical specialties in which away rotations and letters of recommendation hold weight, like urology, in the interview offers and ultimate match. We agree with the commenters that it would be compelling to see if this “small program effect” is isolated to urology during the initial pandemic years, or if other specialties and times also see these trends. As discussed in our study, 2022 also marked the introduction of preference signaling into the urology match cycle, which could account for part of the return in geographic diversity that was compromised especially in smaller programs during the first pandemic match cycle. Signaling allowed applicants to formally express interest in a program or geographic location even if there were no previous geographic ties, and applicants were more likely to receive an interview from a program they signaled. 1 Traxel E. Richstone L Brown J Mirza M Greene K Thavaseelan S Preference signaling pilot in the urology match: outcomes and perceptions. Urology. 2022; 170: 27-32https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2022.08.034 Google Scholar This would require surveys of applicants and a substantial response rate to build the variable into the statistical model.

Effects of Virtual Reality Program on Glycated Hemoglobin, Static and Dynamic Balancing Ability, and Falls Efficacy for Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose: We aimed to confirm the effects of virtual reality programs used for patients with diabetes on reducing blood glucose levels and improving physical function.Methods: In this systematic literature review and meta-analysis, literature was collected from various databases for randomized controlled trials published in Korean, Chinese, and English by May 2021. The search yielded 1,243 studies. Eight studies were selected for the systematic literature review, and six studies were included in the meta-analysis.Results: In the eight selected studies, a non-immersive virtual reality programs were employed as the intervention method. The effect size of the virtual reality programs on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was -0.40, with no significant difference between experimental and control groups. The effect size on static balancing ability was 1.04, and the effect size on dynamic balancing ability was 2.39. The effect size on falls efficacy was 0.69, and all functional outcomes differed significantly between the experimental and control groups (<i>p</i><.05). A subgroup analysis of static balancing ability was performed according to the duration of the interventional virtual reality program. When the virtual reality programs lasting for more than six weeks, shows an effect size of 1.27 for static balance ability, which was statistically significant (Z=3.32, <i>p</i><.001).Conclusion: Virtual reality programs for participants with diabetes did not reduce HbA1c, but improved balance ability and falls prevention efficacy. The virtual reality program is an effective method for diabetics to be interested and consistently self-care.

Diversity elements on maternal-fetal medicine fellowship websites: opportunity for improvement in recruitment and representation

There has been a fundamental shift in recruitment of medical students and trainees into residency and fellowship programs during the Covid 19 pandemic.1 Historically, websites for medical trainees demonstrate a lack of explicit focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. 2-7 Diversity has positive associations of improving healthcare team performance, patient care, and even financial goals.8 A lack of diversity may negatively impact patient care.9 Directed recruitment of underrepresented in medicine applicants has proven successful to increase diversity within training programs. Department websites have a more prominent role in virtual recruitment since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Features on these websites may be utilized to attract underrepresented in medicine applicants and increase diversity in a field. To analyze Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship websites for presence of diversity elements important to those people who are underrepresented in medicine. Fellowship websites were accessed summer of 2021. They were analyzed for presence of twelve website elements that demonstrate commitment to diversity, including: 1) nondiscrimination statement; 2) diversity and inclusion message; 3) diversity specific language; 4) resources for trainees; 5) community demographics; 6-7) personalized biographies of faculty or fellows; 8-9) individual photographs of faculty or fellows; 10) photos or biographies of alumni; 11) diversity publications and; 12) department statistics. Program size, region, and location were collected. Self-reported underrepresented in medicine data on residency programs was extracted from the National Graduate Medical Education Survey from 2019. Programs were dichotomized into 6+ diversity elements. Nonparametric, chi-square and Fisher's exact were used for analysis. Fellowship programs were analyzed (excluding military/fetal surgery, n = 91/94). Websites included a mean of 4.1± 2.5 diversity elements. Most featured fewer than 6 elements (n =75, 82.4%). When dichotomized to 6+ diversity elements, larger faculty size was the only significant factor (p=0.01). The majority of programs had fewer than 12 faculty members (n=54, 59.3%) and only 9.3% of those programs had 6 or more diversity elements. By contrast, among programs with more than 12 faculty, 29.7% had 6 or more diversity elements. Faculty photos, fellow photos, and diversity publications were the most commonly featured items (92.4%, 68.1%, and 49.5%, respectively). Mean rate of underrepresented in medicine was 18.8% ± 11.3% and no significant associations were noted. There was a non-significant difference in diversity elements in the West United States with a mean of 5.3±2.2 diversity elements, compared to 3.7±2 in the South. Fellowship websites convey information for trainees, especially in an era of virtual recruitment. This study highlights opportunities for directed improvements of websites for features which URIM medical trainees have identified as important.

Beyond market share: Accounting for doctoral program size in recent rates of anthropology faculty job placement.

Job placement trends in higher education at US institutions are bleak. Within anthropology and other social science disciplines this problem appears to be particularly pronounced. Recent studies focusing on placement in Anthropology using market share analysis have suggested that specific doctoral programs offer a greater chance of placing their graduates in faculty positions. Here we expand on that work, looking beyond market share to the number of graduates placed in positions relative to the total number of program graduates. Our results suggest that while large programs do indeed command the majority of tenure track placements by market share, much of this may be a product of the high numbers of graduates from these programs. Smaller programs can be proportionally as successful at placing their students in tenure track positions. The majority of PhDs in anthropology should anticipate gaining employment outside of a tenure track position. Training students for positions in private industry, government, and other non-faculty opportunities is essential.

Perceptions of the Shared Learning Environment by Vascular and General Surgery Residents

Perceptions of the Shared Learning Environment by Vascular and General Surgery Residents

Dynamic Grammar Pruning for Program Size Reduction in Symbolic Regression

Grammar is a key input in grammar-based genetic programming. Grammar design not only influences performance, but also program size. However, grammar design and the choice of productions often require expert input as no automatic approach exists. This research work discusses our approach to automatically reduce a bloated grammar. By utilizing a simple Production Ranking mechanism, we identify productions which are less useful and dynamically prune those to channel evolutionary search towards better (smaller) solutions. Our objective in this work was program size reduction without compromising generalization performance. We tested our approach on 13 standard symbolic regression datasets with Grammatical Evolution. Using a grammar embodying a well-defined function set as a baseline, we compare effective genome length and test performance with our approach. Dynamic grammar pruning achieved significantly better genome lengths for all datasets, while significantly improving generalization performance on three datasets, although it worsened in five datasets. When we utilized linear scaling during the production ranking stages (the first 20 generations) the results dramatically improved. Not only were the programs smaller in all datasets, but generalization scores were also significantly better than the baseline in 6 out of 13 datasets, and comparable in the rest. When the baseline was also linearly scaled as well, the program size was still smaller with the Production Ranking approach, while generalization scores dropped in only three datasets without any significant compromise in the rest.

Neurosurgery residency rankings: An assessment of Doximity’s survey-based data and objective program characteristics

BackgroundMedical students often consult residency program reputation rankings whilst creating residency program rank lists. Accurate assessment of a residency program remains a cumbersome task, primarily due to varying degrees of interpretation and bias. The Doximity Residency Navigator (DRN) is a tool used to assist medical students in making informed residency decisions whilst simultaneously increasing transparency in the residency match process. DRN is comprised of data that assist applicants research prospective training programs, including reputation rankings across specialties, resident and alumni satisfaction surveys, and objective statistics such as training program size and research output. ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the correlation between different Doximity rankings across neurosurgical residency programs. MethodsRankings and the relevant criteria (reputation, research output, and percentage of graduates that subspecialize) and program size for all neurological surgery residency programs in the United States were obtained from the 2020–2021 Doximity Residency Navigator. Independent correlation analyses were run to ascertain the relationship between reputation ranking and 1) program size, 2) research output ranking and 3) ranking of the percentage of graduates who subspecialize. ResultsThe reputation rankings of neurosurgical residency programs are determined, in part, by nomination surveys completed by board-certified physicians. A statistically significant correlation was observed between reputation ranking and 1) program size and 2) research output ranking. ConclusionReputation rankings of neurosurgical residency programs put forth by Doximity Inc. incorporate reputational data and other objective outcome criteria. A nuanced understanding of the Doximity rankings will facilitate its use by medical students and healthcare professionals.

Revisiting creativity and critical thinking through content analysis

As essential 21st century skills, creativity and critical thinking have garnered the attention of educators and researchers. The aim of this research was to investigate the nature of the relationship between these two essential skills through a content analysis of past empirical studies. Twenty-seven peer-reviewed journal articles were selected for a systematic review. The selection criteria include the utilization of psychometrically valid and reliable creativity and critical thinking measure and the report of either a correlation between measures of creativity and critical thinking or a report of effect size of intervention program on the development of creativity and critical thinking. The results of the study revealed that the correlation between the two ranged from non-significant to large, depending on the nature of the study. Two factors influenced the degree of correlation: the type of measurements used and the demographic of the participants (e.g., age and country of origin of the participants). Results also revealed that fostering creativity and critical thinking simultaneously is possible but the development of each skill can vary. Implications are discussed.

Pediatric Resident Confidence in Assessing Neurological Cases: A Nationwide Survey

BackgroundA relative shortage of pediatric neurologists in proportion to estimated neurological disorders often results in general pediatricians evaluating and treating children with complex neurological conditions. Dedicated rotations in pediatric neurology are not mandated during medical school or pediatric residency. We evaluated the perceptions of a large cohort of pediatric residents and program directors (PDs) regarding child neurology training. MethodsUsing an online tool, surveys were sent to pediatric residents and pediatric and pediatric neurology PDs. ResultsResponse rates were 41% from pediatric residency programs, yielding 538 resident responses; 31% from pediatric PDs; and 62% from pediatric neurology PDs. Only 27% of the surveyed residents reported completing a neurology rotation during residency, 89% of whom expressed a subjective improvement in confidence with neurological assessments. Factors affecting comfort with eliciting a neurological history included exposure to a neurology rotation during residency, year of training, duration of neurology rotation in medical school, and inpatient exposure to neurological patients, whereas those associated with examination additionally included program size and postresidency plans. Overall, 80% of surveyed residents, 78% of pediatric PDs, and 96% of pediatric neurology PDs acknowledged the potential value of a mandatory pediatric neurology rotation during residency. ConclusionWe suggest that a mandatory pediatric neurology rotation will boost the confidence of current and future pediatric trainees in assessing common neurological conditions of childhood.

Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Program Size Effect on Recruitment and Workforce Distribution.

Concerns about the pediatric pulmonology workforce suggest a need to improve fellowship recruitment. Program size is related to the financial health and recruitment success of pediatric subspecialty education programs, but there are few data on how program size impacts recruitment and workforce in pediatric pulmonology. Assess the impact of program size in pediatric pulmonology through examination of the distribution of applicants matching into pediatric pulmonology training programs over time and relationships to workforce distribution. Data from the National Residency Match Program from 2010 to 2022 were extracted from published documents. Positions offered, positioned filled, and match rates were calculated for each appointment year. Statewide statistics for the number of fellows matched were analyzed relative to the number of pediatric pulmonologists per capita using data from the American Board of Pediatrics. From 2010 to 2018, the size and distribution of programs in pediatric pulmonology were stable, with most fellows (82.4%) matching into programs with one or two positions per cycle. Starting in 2019, programs offering three or more positions steadily increased in number and aggregate positions offered. This change was associated with an increase in total filled positions (38.9 ± 7.3 in 2010-2018 vs. 50.5 ± 8.7 in 2019-2022; P < 0.03) and an increased fraction who matched into larger programs (17.6% in 2010-2018 vs. 36.9% in 2019-2022; P < 0.001). Among states with fellowship programs, the number of fellows matched over the past 5 years correlated with the number of practicing pediatric pulmonologists per capita (r = 0.78; P < 0.001). The period 2019-2022 saw a marked shift of pediatric pulmonary trainees matching into a relatively small number of larger programs. This shift was associated with overall growth in the number of trainees but may have implications on geographical distribution of practicing pediatric pulmonologists.

The impact of COVID-19 on the social media practices of orthopaedic surgery residency programs

Background: Social media is a robust outreach tool that allows programs to outreach with prospective applicants while maintaining social distancing policies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the social media practices of ACGME accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs. Methods: An analysis of orthopaedic surgery residency social media accounts was performed to identify changes in practices from July 2019 to December 2020. Social media participation was analyzed with respect to program type, location, size, geographical location, and Doximity ranking. Results: A total of 194 residency programs were included in this study. Twitter accounts increased from 56 (28.9%) in December 2019 to 87 (44.8%) in January 2021 while Instagram accounts increased from 16 (8.2%) to 107 (55.2%). Allopathic programs, programs with a higher Doximity Reputation Ranking, and those with more than 35 residents were significantly more likely to have an Instagram or Twitter account (P&lt;0.05). There was a significant increase in the average number of Instagram posts per month in July and September 2020 (P&lt;0.05) 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019. Conclusions: There was an increase in the prevalence of orthopaedic residency social media accounts during the Covid pandemic. Allopathic programs, programs with a higher Doximity Reputation Ranking, and larger programs were more likely to utilize social media. Social media offers another avenue for programs to communicate with applicants and an increasing number of programs are harnessing this tool to connect with the next generation of orthopaedic surgeons. Level of Evidence: Level IV.

PIMCA: A Programmable In-Memory Computing Accelerator for Energy-Efficient DNN Inference

This article presents a programmable in-memory computing accelerator (PIMCA) for low-precision (1–2 b) deep neural network (DNN) inference. The custom 10T1C bitcell in the in-memory computing (IMC) macro has four additional transistors and one capacitor to perform capacitive-coupling-based multiply and accumulation (MAC) in analog-mixed-signal (AMS) domain. A macro containing <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$256\ttimes 128$</tex-math> </inline-formula> bitcells can simultaneously activate all the rows, and as a result, it can perform a matrix-vector multiplication (VMM) in one cycle. PIMCA integrates 108 of such IMC static random-access memory (SRAM) macros with the custom six-stage pipeline and the custom instruction set architecture (ISA) for instruction-level programmability. The results of IMC macros are fed to a single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) processor for other computations such as partial sum accumulation, max-pooling, activation functions, etc. To effectively use the IMC and SIMD datapath, we customize the ISA especially by adding hardware loop support, which reduces the program size by up to 73%. The accelerator is prototyped in a 28-nm technology, and integrates a total of 3.4-Mb IMC SRAM and 1.5-Mb off-the-shelf activation SRAM, demonstrating one of the largest IMC accelerators to date. It achieves the system-level energy efficiency of 437 TOPS/W and the peak throughput of 49 TOPS at the 42-MHz clock frequency and 1-V supply for the VGG9 and the ResNet-18 on the CIFAR-10 dataset.

Doing more with less: The catalytic function of IMF lending and the role of program size

Financial assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is supposed to unlock other financing, acting as a catalyst for private capital flows. The empirical evidence of the presence of such a catalytic effect has, however, been mixed. This paper shows that a possible explanation for the rather inconclusive empirical evidence to date is the neglect of the size of an IMF program. Applying a novel identification strategy to account for endogenous selection into (large) adjustment programs, and using a comprehensive data set spanning the years 1990-2018, we show that the catalytic effect of IMF financial assistance is weakened – and potentially reversed – if the size of a program exceeds a certain level. We argue that large IMF financial assistance coupled with the IMF’s preferred creditor status can lead to a crowding-out of private investors by increasing their loss in the event of default. Our findings add to the debate on the optimal size of Fund-supported programs and can also inform the broader policy discussions on the adequacy of IMF resources.

An 8-step approach for the systematic development of an evidence-based exercise program for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

A tailored and reliable intervention program developed based on evidence is necessary for patients with serious health conditions. We describe the development of an exercise program for HSCT patients based on evidence from a systematic process. We developed the exercise program for HSCT patients using eight systematic steps: (1) a literature review, (2) understanding patient characteristics, (3) first expert group discussion, (4) development of the first draft of the exercise program, (5) a pre-test, (6) second expert group discussion, (7) a pilot randomized controlled trial (n=21), and (8) a focus group interview. The developed exercise program was unsupervised and consisted of different exercises and intensities according to the patients' hospital room and health condition. Participants were provided with instructions for the exercise program, exercise videos via smartphone, and prior education sessions. In the pilot trial, the adherence to the exercise program was only 44.7%, however, some changes in physical functioning and body composition favored the exercise group despite the small sample size. Strategies to improve adherence to this exercise program and larger sample sizes are needed to adequately test if the developed exercise program may help patients improve physical and hematologic recovery after HSCT. This study may help researchers develop a safe and effective evidence-based exercise program for their intervention studies. Moreover, the developed program may benefit the physical and hematological recovery in patients undergoing HSCT in larger trials, if exercise adherence is improved. https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/search/detailSearch.do?seq=24233&search_page=L, identifier KCT 0008269.

MP66-05 FACTORS AFFECTING APPLICATION RATES TO UROLOGY RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023MP66-05 FACTORS AFFECTING APPLICATION RATES TO UROLOGY RESIDENCY PROGRAMS F. Pearce Kudlata, Salil S. Ghamande, William M. Pearson, Luke G. Scanlan, Brittany Ange, John J. de Caro, and Martha K. Terris F. Pearce KudlataF. Pearce Kudlata More articles by this author , Salil S. GhamandeSalil S. Ghamande More articles by this author , William M. PearsonWilliam M. Pearson More articles by this author , Luke G. ScanlanLuke G. Scanlan More articles by this author , Brittany AngeBrittany Ange More articles by this author , John J. de CaroJohn J. de Caro More articles by this author , and Martha K. TerrisMartha K. Terris More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003329.05AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Interest in urology has risen sharply in recent years, creating an increasingly competitive match. Many factors attract or repel applicants, but it remains unclear which factors truly affect application rates. This project aimed to elucidate the factors that influence application rates so both urology residency programs and applicants can employ evidence-based strategies to increase their number of applicants and odds of acceptance, respectively. METHODS: A list of programs and de-identified applicant data was obtained from the AUA/SAU. Usage analytics from 4/1/19-3/31/22 of identified social media accounts were determined using popsters.com. Program size and rankings were acquired from Doximity, city population was obtained from US census data, and city quality of life (QOL) was retrieved from Niche. Statistics were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlations and Dwass, Steel, Critchlow-Fligner multiple comparison tests. RESULTS: Affecting Factors: From 2019-2022, the number of applicants increased with program size and city population (Table 1). Programs with a Twitter presence (90.7%) had significantly more applicants in 2019-2022 than those without (p<.01). The mean number of applicants increased with a program’s Twitter followers, following, and total posts (Table 1). After adjusting for multiple variables, programs in higher research and reputation rank quintiles received more applications over the 4 years (p<.0001). Program size and Twitter activity were significantly correlated with reputation quintile (p<.0001). Non-Affecting Factors: From 2020-2022, program city QOL was not associated with increased applications (Table 1). AUA Section also had no significant impact on applicant numbers (p>.05). There was no significant correlation between YouTube or Instagram activity and applicant numbers (Table 1). CONCLUSIONS: Urology residency programs and student applicants should prioritize medical Twitter activity over other social media platforms. Programs should focus on promoting city population, program size, research, and reputation rather than city QOL or geographical region to attract more applicants. Applicants should spread their applications and preference signals to programs across all rank quintiles to adjust for application numbers and potentially increase their match rate. Source of Funding: None © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e933 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information F. Pearce Kudlata More articles by this author Salil S. Ghamande More articles by this author William M. Pearson More articles by this author Luke G. Scanlan More articles by this author Brittany Ange More articles by this author John J. de Caro More articles by this author Martha K. Terris More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

MP66-10 VARIABILITY IN PARENTAL LEAVE POLICIES FOR UROLOGY RESIDENTS ACROSS UNITED STATES ACADEMIC MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023MP66-10 VARIABILITY IN PARENTAL LEAVE POLICIES FOR UROLOGY RESIDENTS ACROSS UNITED STATES ACADEMIC MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS Alice Chu, Farah Abaza, Simone Thavaseelan, Lindsey Hartsell, and Akanksha Mehta Alice ChuAlice Chu More articles by this author , Farah AbazaFarah Abaza More articles by this author , Simone ThavaseelanSimone Thavaseelan More articles by this author , Lindsey HartsellLindsey Hartsell More articles by this author , and Akanksha MehtaAkanksha Mehta More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003329.10AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Parental leave is a significant consideration for resident physicians when considering family planning during training. While the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently mandated a 6-week paid parental leave policy, there is no standardized parental leave policy across urology residency programs. This study sought to evaluate the availability and accessibility of parental leave for urology residents at academic medical institutions in the United States. METHODS: A non-validated 8-question survey was developed to capture the current status of parental leave policies (e.g. duration of leave, maternal vs paternal leave, birth vs adoptive children, compensation status). All ACGME-accredited urology residency programs were contacted via email. Data were collected via telephone/video interview, email, or online survey response. Program characteristics and demographic information were collected from the residency program website and Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access (FREIDA). Fisher’s exact test was used to determine association between program characteristics and favorable parental leave policies (i.e., >6 weeks). RESULTS: We successfully contacted 132 (93.6%) academic urology programs. A total of 35 (27%) programs responded. Maximum allowed weeks of parental leave ranged 3-18 weeks for birthing parents (median 6 weeks, mean 8.26+/-3.78 weeks) and 0-18 weeks for non-birthing parents (median 6 weeks, mean 7.06+/-3.83 weeks). Most institutions provided fully paid leave and did not require exhaustion of other time away from training (i.e., vacation or sick leave; 74.3% and 71.4% respectively). Having >30% female faculty was associated with resident parental leave time >6 weeks (OR 10.3, p<0.05). Geographic region, program type (university- vs community-based), program size, number of program years, and resident gender complement were not associated with parental leave time. CONCLUSIONS: There is large variability in the maximum amount of parental leave allowed and amount of paid leave among academic urology residency programs across the United States. Standardization of these policies may increase equity across urology residencies in the U.S. and alleviate fears of financial burden and need to extend training. Source of Funding: N/A © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e935 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Alice Chu More articles by this author Farah Abaza More articles by this author Simone Thavaseelan More articles by this author Lindsey Hartsell More articles by this author Akanksha Mehta More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

PD30-09 TRENDS IN FEMALE AUTHORSHIP AMONG UROLOGY RESIDENTS: IS THE GENDER GAP CLOSING?

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023PD30-09 TRENDS IN FEMALE AUTHORSHIP AMONG UROLOGY RESIDENTS: IS THE GENDER GAP CLOSING? Melody Ong, Joshua Ballway, Emily Kokush, John Fastenau, George Mina, Madeleine Andreas, Rose Maisner, Mohit Khera, and Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad Melody OngMelody Ong More articles by this author , Joshua BallwayJoshua Ballway More articles by this author , Emily KokushEmily Kokush More articles by this author , John FastenauJohn Fastenau More articles by this author , George MinaGeorge Mina More articles by this author , Madeleine AndreasMadeleine Andreas More articles by this author , Rose MaisnerRose Maisner More articles by this author , Mohit KheraMohit Khera More articles by this author , and Hossein Sadeghi-NejadHossein Sadeghi-Nejad More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003316.09AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Gender disparities have been demonstrated among women in academia. Women face barriers to acquiring mentorship, publishing, and obtaining academic promotions. Urology, a historically male-dominated field, has seen a steady rise in female representation in recent years. With the proportion of females matching to urology increasing each year, this study aims to examine the current trends in academic productivity of urology residents based on gender. METHODS: Urology residents in the top 50 Doximity reputation ranking residency programs in 2021-2022 were identified through program websites and Twitter accounts. Publications during residency were recorded from July 1 of PGY1 year to December 2021 using PubMed and Scopus. Demographic data including training year, geographic location, program size, program length, and medical school affiliation were collected. Research productivity was measured by number and type of publications, authorship position, H-index, and journal impact factor. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to perform statistical analyses. RESULTS: 801 residents from 46 urology programs were identified. Females accounted for 31% of the residents, while 69% were males. There were no significant differences in distribution between female and male residents for year of training, program geographic region, average number of residents per year, program length, program with mandatory research year, resident graduation from a top 50 research medical school, and program affiliation with a top 20 research medical school. Overall, the median (interquartile range) number of publications was higher in male than female residents [2(0-5) vs. 1(0-3), p=0.001]. Similarly, the h-index for males was higher overall [2(1-4), vs. 1(1-3), p=0.002]. However, when residents were stratified by year of training, the total number of publications and h-indices were not significantly different between genders, with the exception of male residents having a higher h-index in their PGY2 year [2(1-4) vs. 1(0-2), p=0.014]. The percentage of first or second author publications for each resident, as well as the percentage of original articles and articles published in a high-impact urology journal, did not differ between genders. CONCLUSIONS: At first glance, male urology residents seem to produce more research than female residents. However, after stratification by year of training, research productivity is similar between genders. These promising results suggest that the gender gap for women in academia may be closing as female representation continues to improve in urology. Source of Funding: None © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e834 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Melody Ong More articles by this author Joshua Ballway More articles by this author Emily Kokush More articles by this author John Fastenau More articles by this author George Mina More articles by this author Madeleine Andreas More articles by this author Rose Maisner More articles by this author Mohit Khera More articles by this author Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

746 PGY-6 Versus PGY-7 Neurosurgical Chief Year: A Survey of Residents and Program Directors

INTRODUCTION: Recently, more neurosurgical residency programs have transitioned from a post-graduate year (PGY)-7 to a PGY-6 chief year. There has not been a national analysis of resident and program director perceptions regarding the timing of chief year conductance and its influence on overall program satisfaction. METHODS: An online survey was distributed via individual institution program coordinators to all North American PGY 4-7 residents and program directors. Data regarding program size, protected research timing, chief year timing (PGY-6 vs PGY-7) and resident and program director perceptions of the influence of neurosurgical chief year timing on program satisfaction and ability of residents to practice were recorded. Survey results were summarized descriptively. RESULTS: A total of 134 respondents completed the survey. Thirty-five percent of respondents reported a recent program transition from a PGY-7 to PGY-6 chief year while 44% of respondents at programs conducting a PGY-7 chief year reported they were interested in transitioning to a PGY-6 chief year. The large majority of residents (76%) and program directors (80%) at PGY-6 chief year programs stated they were overall satisfied with this. A greater percentage of residents (54%) reported a positive impact of PGY-6 chief year on patient care and preparation to practice when compared to program directors (8%). A large percentage (&gt;80%) of all respondents reported that a PGY-6 chief year provided increased opportunity for subspecialty focus, enfolded fellowships and career planning. CONCLUSIONS: Program directors and residents at PGY-6 chief year program s report a high level of satisfaction with many of those at PGY-7 programs desiring to make this transition. A PGY-6 chief year may allows for greater sub-specialty focus and career planning during the PGY-7 year and its impact on programs should be investigated further.