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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Academic Ophthalmology 2023; 15(02): e271-e275
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1777415
Research Article

Applicant Perceptions of In-Person versus Virtual Interview Format for Surgical Retina Fellowship

Sonya Besagar 
1   Division of Retina, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
,
Shriji Patel
1   Division of Retina, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
2   Genentech, San Francisco, California
,
Lejla Vajzovic
3   Division of Retina, Duke Eye Center, Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
,
Adrienne W. Scott
4   Division of Retina, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
,
Xiangyu Ji
5   Department of Statistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
,
Qingxia Chen
5   Department of Statistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
,
Avni Finn 
1   Division of Retina, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
› Author Affiliations Funding Supported in part by a Research to Prevent Blindness unrestricted grant to the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.
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Abstract

Purpose This article compares applicants' perceptions of and experiences with virtual and in-person interviews for surgical retina fellowship.

Methods A survey was distributed via email to all applicants of three vitreoretinal surgery fellowship programs for the 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 application cycles.

Main Outcome Measures Participants were surveyed regarding cost; burden of scheduling; number of applications and interviews completed; ability to gain a true feel of the program, location, and preceptor; and number of work and surgical days missed.

Results Of 151 applicants contacted, 36 completed the survey (23.8% response rate). Of the respondents, 25.0% attended only virtual interviews, 19.4% attended mostly virtual interviews, 30.6% attended mostly in-person interviews, and 25.0% attended half virtual and half in-person interviews. Average expenditure was significantly lower for applicants with mostly and completely virtual interviews compared with applicants with mostly in-person and half virtual, half in-person (p < 0.001). Applicants with mostly virtual interviews reported a lower ability to gain a true perception of the program and the program location (p = 0.003 and p < 0.001, respectively). There was no difference in burden of scheduling, number of interviews completed, or number of work and surgical days missed. When applicants were asked what type of interview format they would prefer if they could repeat the cycle, those who interviewed mostly in-person largely chose in-person as their preference (72.7%), while participants who interviewed mostly or completely virtually were evenly split between in-person, virtual, and hybrid (p = 0.136).

Conclusion As fellowship programs and institutions decide whether they will return to in-person interviews or maintain a virtual interview format in the long term, they must weigh the lower cost of virtual interviews with the improved ability to gain a more accurate perception of the program and location allowed by in-person interviews, as well as potentially greater satisfaction with the in-person format.

Keywords

virtual interviews - in-person interviews - ophthalmology - fellowship match - vitreoretinal surgery fellowship - retina fellowship

Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 26 August 2023

Accepted: 09 November 2023

Article published online:
05 December 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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