Abstract
Purpose :
The ranking of residency programs is inherently subjective and no one method provides a thorough and accurate representation of a program. Applicants often refer to the Doximity Residency Navigator’s ranking to assess the relative quality of a program. While research and name recognition play a significant role in academia, surgical exposure during residency is an important consideration for ophthalmology applicants deciding on their top choice programs. We present a comparison of programs ranked by the number of cataract surgeries performed by residents.
Methods :
Residency data was queried from Doximity Residency Navigator, including the overall aggregate Doximity ranking, rankings based on total publication output, the percentage of residents who subspecialize, and the program setting (rural vs. urban vs. suburban). The average number of cataract surgeries performed by a resident at a given program was gathered using SF Match’s Program Profile Information.
Results :
Data was collected from 117 residency programs. Doximity’s overall program ranking was negatively correlated to the number of cataract surgeries a resident performed (-0.721± 0.222, p=0.002), but were positively correlated with their rankings based on total research output (0.762± 0.063, p=<0.001). Rural programs significantly ranked worse in overall rankings when compared to programs in urban communities (69.7 + 34.0 vs. 47.8 + 32.8; p=<0.001).
Conclusions :
While rankings are often used as convenient ways to quickly assess a program’s quality, our data suggests that research output plays a larger role in determining the Doximity rank compared to resident cataract surgery exposure. Our data may also suggest that a programs setting- rural vs. urban- may have an impact on their overall ranking.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.