Download PDF
J Neurol Surg B Skull Base
DOI: 10.1055/a-2181-6813
Original Article

Assessing the Quality of Recruitment Information on Skull Base Surgical Fellowship Program Websites

Hana Sung
1   Department of Neurosurgery, University of California-Irvine, Orange, California, United States
,
Emily Ton
1   Department of Neurosurgery, University of California-Irvine, Orange, California, United States
,
Nolan J. Brown 
1   Department of Neurosurgery, University of California-Irvine, Orange, California, United States
,
Zach Pennington
2   Department of Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
,
Sachiv Chakravarti
3   Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
,
Dontre M. Douse
4   Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
,
Julian Gendreau
5   Department of Biomedical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
,
Siviero Agazzi
6   Department of Neurosurgery, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
,
Matthew L. Carlson
2   Department of Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
4   Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
,
Michael J. Link
2   Department of Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
,
Jamie J. Van Gompel 
2   Department of Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
4   Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, United States
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
    Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Introduction The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), North American Skull Base Society (NASBS), American Rhinologic Society (ARS), and American Neurotology Society (ANS) fellowship directories are important information repositories for skull base surgical fellowship programs. However, there is limited research on the amount and depth of information available through these resources. The objective of the present study is to assess Web site accessibility and information availability for individual fellowship programs listed within the AANS, NASBS, ARS, and ANS fellowship directories.

Methods Lists of all accredited skull base surgical programs were obtained from the AANS and NASBS fellowship directories. Duplications in listed programs were removed, and systematic queries via an online search engine were conducted to identify fellowship Web sites. From each available Web site, information pertaining to 24 different variables was collected and organized into two categories—recruitment and education. Differences in the availability of information on recruitment and education were then compared across Web sites and contextualized relative to other surgical specialties.

Results After excluding duplicates, 113 fellowship programs were identified, of which 99 (87.6%) had accessible Web sites. Of the 48 listed by the NASBS, direct Web site links were available for 33 (68.8%), email contacts were accessible for 32 (66.7%), and phone numbers were listed for 6 (12.5%). Of the 39 programs listed by the AANS, none included Web site links, 38 (97.4%) provided an email contact, and 39 (100%) listed a departmental contact telephone number. All 28 (100%) programs listed by the ANS provided a phone and email contact in addition to a Web site link to each institutional Web site. Of the 33 programs listed by the ARS, 29 (88%) had a departmental contact telephone number, 31 (94%) had an email contact available, and 4 (12%) had a program Web site link directly available from the database Web site. Of the 99 total programs, fellowship Web sites displayed an average of 5.46 (42.0%) of the 13 recruitment features and 4.80 (42.6%) of the 11 education features. Programs in the geographic Northeast were significantly less likely to present information pertaining to recruitment (p = 0.023). Furthermore, programs in geographic Northeast and West were significantly less likely to present information focused on surgical training and/or education (p = 0.006).

Conclusion Although many skull base fellowship programs have maintained comprehensive program Web sites, certain critical aspects remain deficient, and some programs provide little to no information. Providing more detailed information about programs can prove mutually beneficial for fellowship program directors and candidates.

Keywords

training - surgical training - neurosurgery - ENT - otorhinolaryngology-head and neck - skull base - fellowship - recruitment - Web site - NASBS


Publication History

Received: 02 August 2023

Accepted: 22 September 2023

Accepted Manuscript online:
26 September 2023

Article published online:
03 November 2023

© 2023. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

  • References

  • 1 Davidson AR, Murphy RF, Spence DD, Kelly DM, Warner Jr WC, Sawyer JR. Accessibility and quality of online information for pediatric orthopaedic surgery fellowships. J Pediatr Orthop 2014; 34 (08) 831-834
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Gariscsak P, Figueredo L, Singh R. et al. Critical evaluation of functional neurosurgical fellowship program websites. World Neurosurg X 2023; 18: 100184
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Gerlach EB, Plantz MA, Swiatek PR. et al. The content and accessibility of spine surgery fellowship websites and the North American Spine Surgery (NASS) fellowship directory. Spine J 2021; 21 (09) 1542-1548
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Huang BY, Hicks TD, Haidar GM, Pounds LL, Davies MG. An evaluation of the availability, accessibility, and quality of online content of vascular surgery training program websites for residency and fellowship applicants. J Vasc Surg 2017; 66 (06) 1892-1901
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Charalel RA, Pua BB, Galla N, Trehan SK, Madoff DC. Interventional radiology fellowship website content: what is the relevance to potential applicants?. Clin Imaging 2016; 40 (06) 1070-1074
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Gupta S, Palmer S, Ferreira-Dos-Santos G, Hurdle MF. Pain Medicine Fellowship Program websites in the United States of America - a nonparametric statistic analysis of 14 different criteria. J Pain Res 2021; 14: 1339-1343
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 CAST approved fellowship programs in Skull Base. New. Published June 24, 2022 . Accessed May 30, 2023 at: https://sns-cast.org/cast-approved-fellowship-programs-in-skull-base/
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Miles 0. 200 400. Census regions and divisions of the United States. Accessed May 30, 2023 at: https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Naaseh A, Thompson S, Tohmasi S. et al. Evaluating applicant perceptions of the impact of social media on the 2020–2021 residency application cycle occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic: Survey study. JMIR Med Educ 2021; 7 (04) e29486
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Dossani R, Karsy M, Waqas M, Menger R, Guthikonda B. A survey of applicant views regarding the neurosurgical fellowship application process. World Neurosurg 2020; 139: e373-e382
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Mukhdomi T, Woolley P, Mukhdomi J. et al. An evaluation of the online quality of content of United States accredited pain medicine fellowship training programs. Anesth Pain Med 2021; 11 (03) e115981
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Skovrlj B, Silvestre J, Ibeh C, Abbatematteo JM, Mocco J. Neurosurgery residency websites: a critical evaluation. World Neurosurg 2015; 84 (03) 727-733
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Ruddell JH, Hartley-Blossom ZJ, Bajaj AI, Grand D, Eltorai AEM. Analysis of Abdominal Radiology fellowship website content and comprehensiveness. Abdom Radiol (NY) 2019; 44 (04) 1601-1605
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Vilanilam GK, Wadhwa V, Purushothaman R, Desai S, Kamran M, Radvany MG. Critical evaluation of interventional neuroradiology fellowship program websites in North America. World Neurosurg 2021; 146: e48-e52
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Maisner RS, Babu A, Ayyala HS, Ramanadham S. How comprehensive are aesthetic surgery fellowship websites?. Ann Plast Surg 2021; 86 (06) 615-617
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 North American Skull Base Society (NASBS). “NABS has launched the Skull Base Fellowship Match Program”. Nasbs.org. Accessed 20 May 2023. https://www.nasbs.org/fellowship-match-programs/
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Silvestre J, Agarwal D, Taylor JA. Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship Websites. J Craniofac Surg 2016; 27 (04) 831-834
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Shaath MK, Yeranosian MG, Ippolito JA, Adams MR, Sirkin MS, Reilly MC. Evaluation of the Content and Accessibility of Web Sites for Accredited Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Fellowships. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2018; 100 (09) e60
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Aryanpour Z, Ananthasekar S, Rajan SS, Reddy S. Evaluation of surgical oncology fellowship websites: Are we showing what applicants need to see?. Surg Open Sci 2021; 7: 1-5
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar