New Tools for Resident Recruiting Season: A CERA Survey of Family Medicine Residency Program Directors.

Abstract

As the family medicine community continues to adapt to interview season changes secondary to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions are underway regarding new options to improve the overall success and satisfaction of resident recruiting. Tools such as preference signaling, interview capping, and supplementary applications are options that have been investigated, and in some cases implemented, by other specialties for their recruiting seasons. Family medicine as a specialty is now actively scrutinizing the benefits and drawbacks of these tools. The fall 2021 CERA program directors' omnibus online cross-sectional survey invited family medicine program directors to provide their perceptions of these tools. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted. Two-thirds of the 262 program director respondents (42% response rate, n=184) supported policies for preference signaling and a national interview cap; however, support was mixed for the use of supplemental applications. Because the survey results indicated a high level of support for using these innovative new tools during recruitment season, family medicine should take action to implement these programs/policies.