Family medicine
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Successful clerkship directors (CDs) must exhibit a variety of leadership, administrative, educational, and interpersonal skills. This study investigates the professional development needs for family medicine CDs to be successful in their role, in relation to career stage, institutional support, and needed resources. ⋯ These findings demonstrate the lack of formal training provided to CDs and highlight the importance of informal training and conference attendance for professional development.
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Survey response rates of 70% or higher are needed if findings are to be considered generalizable. Unfortunately, survey studies of health professionals have declining response rates. We have conducted survey research with residents and residency directors for over 13 years. Here we describe the strategies we used to obtain optimal response rates in residency training research collaboratives. ⋯ High response rates are achievable, though they require an investment in time, resources, and ingenuity in connecting with study populations. Investigators conducting survey research must consider administrative efforts needed to achieve target response rates, including planning for funds accordingly.
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The family medicine residency application process is arduous and competitive. An important part of the application is the in-person interview process, which was affected during the last two interview cycles (2021-2022) due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual interviews eliminate traveling costs associated with applications, potentially improving underrepresented minorities' access to interviewing opportunities. Our goal was to assess if virtual interviews at our institution have negative or positive effects on access for underrepresented in medicine (URiM) applicants and our residency match results. Methods: We analyzed data from 2019-2022 to compare application volumes, applicant demographics, and match results between two in-person cycles (2019 and 2020) and two virtual cycles (2021-2022). Data were analyzed using Pearson χ2 criteria and P=.05 defined significance. Differences between years for expected counts were determined using single sample χ2 tests. Results: No statistical significance was noted on number of applications by URiM to our program despite decrease costs associated with virtual interview process. The number of URiM applicants matching to our program did not improve by simply implementing virtual interviews when compared to in-person interview seasons in the past. ⋯ Virtual interviews at our institution did not increase URiM applications to our program from substantial equivalent medical schools. Further research in this area from programs in other states may enhance our understanding of the impact of virtual interviews on URiM applications to residency and match results.