Local Culture and Community through a Virtual Lens: Designing and Implementing a Virtual Second Look Event for Residency Applicants (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic altered how residency interviews occur. Despite two years of virtual interviews, these still perceived as inferior to in-person experiences. Showcasing a program and location is critical for recruitment; however, it is difficult to highlight the program's location and community in the virtual setting. OBJECTIVE The objective was to host a virtual event to feature the benefits of living in Winston Salem, NC, for residency applicants, enhance recruitment efforts, and ensure a successful residency match. The goal was to cover topics that interested all applicants, highlight how Winston-Salem is a special place to live, involve current residents, and engage community members. METHODS Three programs - child neurology, neurology, and family medicine were chosen for the pilot program. Program directors from all residency programs were asked to recommend contacts for the community and help identify residents and faculty who may serve as content experts on one of the topics in the panel discussions. A total of 24 community leaders from restaurants, venues, schools, and businesses were contacted, and 18 agreed to participate. The panel discussions included living in and raising a family in Winston Salem, experiencing Winston-Salem arts and music, where to eat and drink like a local, and enjoying sports and outdoors in the area. The event was hosted on Zoom© virtual platform and lasted 2 hours. Post-event feedback assessments were automatically sent through REDCap to each of the registrants. RESULTS There were 51 registrants for the event, and 28/51 registrants provided post-event feedback, which was positive. We found in the MATCH residency results that 2 of 2 child neurology positions, 4 of 6 adult neurology positions, and 1 of 10 family medicine positions attended our second look event. One adult neurology resident who did not participate was an internal candidate. All respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the session was valuable, well organized, and met their expectations or goals. Furthermore, all respondents gained new information during this virtual event not obtained during their interview day CONCLUSIONS The virtual second look event for residency applicants featured the benefits of living in Winston Salem, NC, and the perspectives of current residents. The program has the potential to be expanded to more residency programs at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. In addition, it may help decrease disparities among applicants who would not be able to attend a typical in-person second look event.