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Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology
OBJECTIVE: Applicant demographics during the 2019-2020 residency cycle were evaluated to determine if strict utilization of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores in applicant selection could lead to a restriction in diversity. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Otolar...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
SAGE Publications
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8295955/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34350370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2473974X211031470 |
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author | Quesada, Pompeyo R. Solis, Roberto N. Ojeaga, Macaulay Yang, Nuen T. Taylor, Sandra L. Diaz, Rodney C. |
author_facet | Quesada, Pompeyo R. Solis, Roberto N. Ojeaga, Macaulay Yang, Nuen T. Taylor, Sandra L. Diaz, Rodney C. |
author_sort | Quesada, Pompeyo R. |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVE: Applicant demographics during the 2019-2020 residency cycle were evaluated to determine if strict utilization of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores in applicant selection could lead to a restriction in diversity. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Otolaryngology residency applicants to a single institution. METHODS: A total of 381 applicants were analyzed by age, gender, applicant type, race/ethnicity, USMLE scores, permanent zip code, and graduating medical school. RESULTS: Among applicants, 37% were women; 9% were ≥30 years of age; 12% were underrepresented minorities (URMs); 71% to 81% had above-average socioeconomic surrogate markers; 22% were from a top 25 US News & World Report–ranked institution; and 81% were from an institution with an otolaryngology residency program. There was no increase in applicants who identified as URM from the 2015-2020 cycles. Multivariable regression analysis showed that applicants who were international medical graduates, URMs, and ≥30 years of age had lower Step 1 and Step 2 scores (P < .05). Applicants who identified as women had a lower Step 1 score, and those from top 25 National Institutes of Health–funded institutions had a higher Step 1 score; however, there was no difference when Step 2 scores were compared (P > .05). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that in the pre–USMLE Step 1 pass/fail setting, strict adherence to USMLE scores may lead to disproportionally low recruitment of applicants who are women, ≥30 years of age, URMs, and from institutions without an otolaryngology residency program. We must implement measures against overemphasizing the absolute values of USMLE scores for a true holistic review of applicants, specifically to prevent an overemphasis on the USMLE Step 2 score. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8295955 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | SAGE Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-82959552021-08-03 Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology Quesada, Pompeyo R. Solis, Roberto N. Ojeaga, Macaulay Yang, Nuen T. Taylor, Sandra L. Diaz, Rodney C. OTO Open Original Research OBJECTIVE: Applicant demographics during the 2019-2020 residency cycle were evaluated to determine if strict utilization of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores in applicant selection could lead to a restriction in diversity. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Otolaryngology residency applicants to a single institution. METHODS: A total of 381 applicants were analyzed by age, gender, applicant type, race/ethnicity, USMLE scores, permanent zip code, and graduating medical school. RESULTS: Among applicants, 37% were women; 9% were ≥30 years of age; 12% were underrepresented minorities (URMs); 71% to 81% had above-average socioeconomic surrogate markers; 22% were from a top 25 US News & World Report–ranked institution; and 81% were from an institution with an otolaryngology residency program. There was no increase in applicants who identified as URM from the 2015-2020 cycles. Multivariable regression analysis showed that applicants who were international medical graduates, URMs, and ≥30 years of age had lower Step 1 and Step 2 scores (P < .05). Applicants who identified as women had a lower Step 1 score, and those from top 25 National Institutes of Health–funded institutions had a higher Step 1 score; however, there was no difference when Step 2 scores were compared (P > .05). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that in the pre–USMLE Step 1 pass/fail setting, strict adherence to USMLE scores may lead to disproportionally low recruitment of applicants who are women, ≥30 years of age, URMs, and from institutions without an otolaryngology residency program. We must implement measures against overemphasizing the absolute values of USMLE scores for a true holistic review of applicants, specifically to prevent an overemphasis on the USMLE Step 2 score. SAGE Publications 2021-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8295955/ /pubmed/34350370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2473974X211031470 Text en © The Authors 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
spellingShingle | Original Research Quesada, Pompeyo R. Solis, Roberto N. Ojeaga, Macaulay Yang, Nuen T. Taylor, Sandra L. Diaz, Rodney C. Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title | Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title_full | Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title_fullStr | Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title_full_unstemmed | Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title_short | Overemphasis of USMLE and Its Potential Impact on Diversity in Otolaryngology |
title_sort | overemphasis of usmle and its potential impact on diversity in otolaryngology |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8295955/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34350370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2473974X211031470 |
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