AAMC Guidance on Interviewing for the 2022-2023 Residency Application Cycle: Orthopaedic Program Director Perspectives

In May 2022, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published guidelines regarding interviews for the 2022-2023 residency application cycle. These guidelines recommended virtual interviews and discouraged “hybrid” interviewing. We conducted a survey of orthopaedic program directors (PDs) to understand their perspectives on these new guidelines and their plans for the upcoming cycle. METHODS: A 19-question multicenter, cross-sectional research survey was emailed to 98 PDs (38.8% response rate) through Qualtrics XM. Contact information was obtained from a public national database. RESULTS: Most orthopaedic residency programs (60.5%) were planning on conducting in-person interviews before any AAMC and hospital guidelines, and most (65.8%) will likely be conducting virtual interviews post-guidelines. PDs voiced mixed opinions about virtual interviews (39.4% in favor vs. 47.4% against). PDs were also split on whether forgoing the AAMC guidance would be irresponsible for residency programs (47.4% believe it would be irresponsible vs. 44.8% believe it would not); however, a plurality are in favor of the AAMC's guidance (42.1%). Furthermore, PDs agreed that virtual interviews have disadvantages including favoring top-tier applicants, students from home institutions, and in-person rotators, making ranking applicants and learning about a program's culture more difficult. Most PDs (84.2%) felt that hybrid interviews would disadvantage applicants who would choose the virtual option. CONCLUSION: AAMC guidance seems to be influencing how most orthopaedic surgery programs will conduct residency interviews for the 2022-2023 cycle. Most PDs agreed with the AAMC guidelines but voiced concerns regarding several disadvantages for all 3 proposed interview options (virtual, in-person, and hybrid). Our results indicate that the recent AAMC guidelines may have contributed to a shift in opinions among PDs but are not sufficient to create a consensus on the best practices for residency interviews. Our findings should encourage solutions focused on the deeper systemic issues within the orthopaedic application process in the post-coronavirus 2019 pandemic era.