Vascular Surgery Training Websites - An Evaluation of the Availability, Accessibility, and Quality of Online Content for Residency and Fellowship Applicants: Much Work Needs to be Done!
Bryant Huang, BS, Hallie Baer, MD, Mark G. Davies, MD, PhD, MBA.
UTHSCSA, San Antonio, TX, USA.
OBJECTIVES: Applicants to both Vascular surgery residency and fellowships routinely seek information about prospective programs from the Internet. Lack of an effective social media presence curtails the ability of programs to attract applicants, and in turn applicants may be unable to ascertain which programs are the best ‘fit’ for their career aspirations. This study was designed to evaluate the presence, accessibility, comprehensiveness, and quality of vascular surgery training websites (VSTW). METHODS: A list of accredited vascular surgery training programs was obtained from four databases for vascular surgery education: ACGME, ERAS, FREIDA, SVS. Programs participating in the 2016 National Residency Match Program were eligible for study inclusion. Accessibility of VSTW was determined by surveying ACGME, ERAS, and FREIDA for total number of programs and for presence of website links. Independently, 5 medical students and 3 faculty advisors then analyzed the websites for the availability of recruitment and education content items. Quality of VSTW was determined as a composite of content, design, organization, and user-friendliness. Inter-rater reliability was high. RESULTS: 89 of the 94 fellowship (95%) and 45 of the 48 integrated residency (94%) programs participating in the 2016 Match had a VSTW. For program recruitment, evaluators found an average of 11.2 of 32 (35.0%) content items for fellowship programs and an average of 11.9 of 32 (37.2%) for integrated residencies (IR). Only 47.1% of fellowship programs (53.3% IR) specified the number of positions available for the 2016 Match, 20.2% (13.3% IR) indicated alumni career placement, 33.7% (37.8% IR) supplied interview dates, and merely 16.9% (17.8% IR) detailed the selection process. For program education, fellowship websites provided an average of 5.1 of 15 (34.0%) content items, while integrated residency provided 4.8 of 14 (34.3%) items. 66.3% of fellowship programs (84.4% IR) provided a rotation schedule, 65.2% (55.6% IR) detailed operative experiences, 38.2% (37.8% IR) posted conference schedules, and just 15.7% (28.9% IR) included simulation training. CONCLUSIONS: The web presence of vascular surgery training programs lacks sufficient accessibility, content, organization, and user-friendliness to sufficiently inform applicants. There are opportunities to more effectively utilize VSTW for the benefit of training programs and prospective applicants.
| Accessibility of Vascular Surgery Training Websites | ||||
| Database | No. Vascular Surgery Residencies | No. Providing Website Links (%) | No. Functioning Links (%) | No. Direct Links (%) |
| Traditional (5+2) | ||||
| ERAS | 103 | 74 (72%) | 65 (88%) | 23 (35%) |
| ACGME | 105 | 102 (97%) | 69 (68%) | 16 (23%) |
| FREIDA | 105 | 95 (90%) | 82 (86%) | 16 (20%) |
| Integrated (5+0) | ||||
| ERAS | 51 | 37 (73%) | 31 (84%) | 12 (39%) |
| ACGME | 51 | 36 (71%) | 27 (75%) | 0 (33%) |
| FREIDA | 51 | 44 (86%) | 37 (84%) | 10 (27%) |
| Note: ERAS links accessed 02/28/2016, FREIDA 02/29/2016, ACGME 03/05/2016 | ||||
| Quality of Vascular Surgery Training Websites: average rating scored on 4 dimensions | ||||
| Content | Design | Organization | User-Friendliness | |
| Fellowship (5+2) | 1.46 | 2.16 | 1.89 | 1.78 |
| Integrated (0+5) | 1.56 | 2.20 | 1.93 | 1.94 |
| 1=Poor, 2=Acceptable, 3=Good, 4=Great |
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