The following is a summary of “Impact of Visiting Rotations on the Urology Residency Match: Insights and Perspectives From the 2021-2022 Applicants” published in the December 2022 issue of Urology by Movassaghi et al.
For a study, researchers sought to better evaluate the effects of recent changes, like the one in-person away rotation limit, on interviews and match outcomes. They polled candidates for the 2022 Urology Residency Match about their experiences during away rotations.
All candidates from participating colleges received an anonymous post-match online survey. Data on respondent demographics, away rotation experiences, interviews, use of preference signaling, and overall match results were prospectively gathered.
The survey was finished by 230 candidates altogether. Geographical criteria were ranked first by respondents (28.1%), followed by program repute (26.1%), and early notice (25.6%) when deciding whether to accept a rotation offer. Nearly all respondents received an offer of a virtual interview from the program, where they finished a visiting clerkship. The majority (93%) participated in a single away rotation. About 56% of students who rejected rotation offers at other programs were not given a chance to interview there. Most of them (20.8%) matched at their home institution, 22.2% in a program where they sent a preference signal, or 13.3% at a program where they did an in-person away rotation. Even though 46.3% of respondents claimed that having only one away rotation had a negative impact on their match’s outcome, the majority (70%) were happy with the rotation they chose based on the outcomes of their chosen matches.
Their involvement greatly influenced the matching procedure for candidates in visiting rotations. The ability to take visiting electives was growing in the post-pandemic setting, necessitating more study into techniques to streamline the away rotation application procedure.
Reference: goldjournal.net/article/S0090-4295(22)00799-3/fulltext
