title: General Surgery Residents can Be a Reliable Resource in the Evaluation of Residency Applications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Surgical residents' ability to screen general surgery (GS) applicants has not been previously investigated. The objective of this study was to compare surgical residents' evaluation of Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) applicants to that of faculty using a standardized assessment instrument.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective analysis of ERAS applications using a standardized assessment tool.
  
  
  METHODS
  A university-affiliated, academic, county GS residency program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Before the interview day, 51 ERAS (2013-2014) applications were reviewed by 10 different assessors (6 GS faculty, including the program director, and 4 GS residents), who evaluated applicants on 10 characteristics (subjective and objective) using a 5-point Likert scale, a total score, and a Global Rating Scale that ranked candidates into deciles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were a total of 510 assessments. In 8 of 10 individual domains the interrater reliability (IRR) between residents and faculty was good. The IRRs of the total score and global score were excellent. The Spearman ρ between the total score and final rank list were similar for faculty (-0.558) and residents (-0.592).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The excellent IRR score between the total and global scores of faculty and residents demonstrates the reliability of GS residents in evaluating ERAS applications. The low correlations between the total score and final rank are consistent with those in previous studies, in which the interview has been demonstrated to be the most important factor in determining final selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California. Electronic address: dekim@dhs.lacounty.gov.
authors.forename: Dennis Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gifford
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Ashkan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moazzez
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Plurad
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keeley
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Xuan-Binh
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bricker
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bongard
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hari
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Virgilio
mesh_terms: D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007586:Job Application; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Interpersonal Skills and Communication Skills; Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Medical Knowledge; Patient Care; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Professionalism; Systems-Based Practice; assessment; electronic residency application Service (ERAS); residents; surgical residency