Specialty Exposure Differentiates Successful Integrated Vascular Surgery Applicants

The number of applicants to integrated vascular residencies continues to rise faster than available training positions. Numerous stakeholders in vascular surgery (VS) are invested in improving resources for medical student mentorship and VS exposure throughout medical school. The purpose of our study was to perform a needs assessment of integrated VS applicants from the 2021 application cycle regarding specialty exposure. A 15-question anonymous survey evaluating applicant VS exposure, resources, and match outcome was developed. VS exposure in the following areas was specifically evaluated: VS conference attendance, VS student interest groups, vascular subinternship away rotations, and mentorship by vascular surgeons. The survey was disseminated on the 2021 Integrated VS Applicant Cycle GroupMe chat forum from April to August 2022. Unpaired t test was utilized to compare summary statistics between respondents who self-identified as having successfully matched versus respondents who did not match into an integrated VS program. A total of 125 applicants were identified and 54 applicants (44%) responded, including 48 who successfully matched into an integrated VS residency. Applicants attended on average 1.5 ± 1.7 regional and national VS conferences in person over the preceding year, with greatest attendance reported at the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Annual Meeting (57%). A VS away rotation was completed by 78% of applicants, with out-of-pocket expenditure reported as >$1000 and >$3000 by 69% and 21% of these applicants, respectively. If given the opportunity to visit interview sites in person following virtual interviews, applicants would have chosen to visit 3.9 ± 2.9 sites on average. Most of the applicants who matched (77%) had a VS student interest groups at their home institution. Those who matched assigned higher rating of perceived vascular mentorship during the application cycle (9.0 ± 1.8 vs 6.0 ± 3.6 on a 1-10 scale; P = .001). Applicants who matched also endorsed interest in VS earlier in medical school (year 2.1 ± 1.0 vs year 3.0 ± 0; P = .04) and were more likely to have completed a VS away rotation (79% vs 66%). Only 19% of applicants who matched and completed a VS away rotation reported matching at the same institution where they had completed their away rotation. Vascular mentorship, early specialty exposure, and completion of a VS away rotation are variables associated with a successful match into an integrated VS residency. While exposure to an institution occurs with an away rotation, the cost to the applicant is not insignificant and the majority of applicants do not match at the institution where the rotation occurred.