Highlights

Abstract

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Introduction

Methods

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Limitations and future directions

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Funding

Declaration of competing interest

References

abstract

Background: Our study investigates how general surgery residency programs utilized social media to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19. Methods: 319 participating general surgery residency programs provided by the Electronic Residency Application Service were analyzed in this study. Associated Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts were assessed to find virtual open houses and externships. Results: Of the 319 program, 188 (59%) were found to have a social media presence. A total of 348 social media accounts were found, as some of the programs had separate residency and department accounts. Of all the social media accounts, 112 (32%) of the accounts were created after March 1, 2020. Virtual open houses opportunities were found to be advertised across all platforms. Conclusion: Many general surgery programs responded to the physical limitations of COVID-19 pandemic by increasingly utilizing social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual opportunities should be considered as a novel approach for future outreach and recruitment.

Introduction

The physical limitations imposed on fourth year medical students and residency programs by the COVID-19 pandemic have created new challenges in an increasingly competitive general surgery residency application process.1,2 In 2014e2015, well over half of fourth year medical students completed an away rotation.3 The Coalition of Physician Accountability, which the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a member of, recommended the immediate suspension of in-person visiting rotations and interviews for the 2020e2021 application cycle in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Alterations to the 2021 match process and outcomes are anticipated due to the abrupt decrease of inperson opportunities. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced general surgery residency programs to shift to a novel form of interviews by way of virtual interaction.5e9 This contrasts traditional in-person evaluations which allowed programs to directly assess an applicant’s interpersonal skills and interactions with faculty and house staff.10,11 For applicants, the traditional interview played a significant role on the order of the rank list as it allowed for applicants to evaluate important factors such as a program’s fit, location, and character.

Previous papers have examined the shift from a traditional inperson interview process to an online format.9,11,13e16 However, to our knowledge there is no current literature that analyzes the frequency and magnitude to which general surgery residency programs are creating and implementing social media accounts to publicize virtual opportunities. We hypothesize that there has been, and will continue to be, a sharp increase in all forms of social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) secondary to strict physical barriers imposed on prospective applicants and residency programs. Herein, we explain the extent of this virtual transition among general surgery residencies by evaluating their social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, advertisement of virtual open house opportunities, and offerings of virtual sub-internships to prospective applicants.