Prevalence Of Illegal Questions Asked By Programs During Integrated Vascular Surgery Residency Interviews
Maria Coluccio, MD1, Linda Harris2.
1Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA, 2University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
OBJECTIVES: Research has shown that up to 85% of residency applicants are questioned about the matters which could be perceived as discriminatory and potentially illegal during their residency interviews. However, no research has conducted on this topic in the field of vascular surgery. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and types of inappropriate questions asked during integrated vascular surgery (I-VS) residency interviews.
METHODS: An online survey was emailed to all medical students accepted into I-VS residencies during the 2020-2021 application cycle. Residents were identified through SVS’s March 29th newsletter of accepted applicants, or through the program’s social media platforms. Applicants were questioned about their recall of the frequency of potentially illegal or discriminatory interview questions, their effect on the applicants ranking of the program, and their reporting practices.
RESULTS:Out of the 79 I-VS applicants, 38 responses were received (48%). Most respondents were 27-29 years old, with equal representation of males and females (19 and 18 respectively, one unspecified). Underrepresented minorities, racial or ethnic group, were identified in 26% of respondents.39.5% of applicants reported being asked at least one inappropriate question. Types of inappropriate questions included: interview or ranking at other programs (80%), marital status (47%), childbearing (13%), religious beliefs (6%), race or ethnicity (6%), and age (13%). No applicants reported questions regarding sexual orientation. 91% of inappropriate questions were asked by senior faculty members. None of the respondents reported the inappropriate questions. Reasons for not reporting included: 50% were viewed as “not a big deal”, 25% did not report because they didn’t know how to report, and 26% were afraid of repercussions of reporting. There were no statistical differences in the prevalence of inappropriate questions asked among different genders, age groups, races or ethnicities of applicants.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our study demonstrated that vascular surgery residency applicants continue to be asked potentially discriminating questions, primarily by senior faculty, and do not formally report these illegal practices. It also highlights that a significant portion of applicants are unaware of the ERAS reporting process. Most discriminatory questions did not change applicant’s decision to rank the program, but some applicants chose to rank programs lower as a result of being asked an inappropriate question.
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