title: American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery fellowship survey: fellows selection criteria for training programs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the characteristics that American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery fellows seek in fellowship training programs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 14-question anonymous SurveyMonkey survey was created for the 2011 to 2014 American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery graduates. The survey evaluated fellow demographics, the interview process, and qualities fellows seek in fellowship training programs. A Likert scale was used to rate different qualities (1: not important, 9: very important), and summary statistics are reported as overall means and standard deviations. Analysis of variance comparisons were made between the different Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery fellow graduate years, gender, and future practice goals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 87 surveys were e-mailed with 67 responses, a 77% response rate. The qualities with the highest mean were variety of surgical procedures (mean ± standard deviation: 8.6 ± 0.7), volume of procedures/surgeries (8.6 ± 0.7), personality of the program director (8.2 ± 1.3), and interview (7.7 ± 1.4). The characteristics that ranked the lowest in descending order were presence of a county hospital (5.1 ± 2.2), proximity to family (4.8 ± 2.7), didactics (4.7 ± 1.9), and benefits (4.4 ± 2.0). There was no statistically significant difference when comparing the groups according to gender and year of graduation. Fellows who want to pursue a career in academic medicine ranked academic fellowships higher in importance (8.0 ± 1.0) than those who wanted a career in private practice (5.3 ± 2.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery fellows place an emphasis on surgical experience, the program director's personality, and the interview process when ranking fellowship training programs. This information is valuable for program directors to better recruit fellows.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Ophthalmology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; and Departments of †Biostatistics and Informatics, ‡Ophthalmology, and §Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Jessica G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Shantha
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shulman
authors.forename: Mithra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hink
authors.forename: Vikram D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Durairaj
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000592:standards*; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006801:Humans; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000193:education*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000193:education*; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013518:Surgery, Plastic / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States