Remote interviews for medical residency selection during the initial COVID-19 crisis: a national survey

Temsah, Mohamad-Hani; Alkhattabi, Fadiah; Aljamaan, Fadi; Alhasan, Khalid; Alherbish, Adi; Philby, Mona; Alsohime, Fahad; Alobaylan, Mohamad; Alabdulkarim, Hayfa; Almosned, Badr; Gashgarey, Deema; Felimban, Ghadah; Alkathiri, Ziyad; Almaghrabi, Randa; Jamal, Amr; Barry, Mazin; Alhaider, Sami A.; Alsaywid, Basim; Bashiri, Fahad A.

BACKGROUND: Medical training programs candidate’s interview is an integral part of the residency matching process. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, conducting these interviews was challenging due to infection prevention restrains (social distancing, namely) and travel restrictions. E-interviews were implemented by the Saudi Commission for Healthcare Specialties (SCFHS) since the matching cycle of March 2020 to hold the interviews in a safer virtual environment while maintaining the same matching quality and standards. AIM: This study was conducted to assess the medical training residency program applicants’ satisfaction, stress, and other perspectives for the (SCFHS) March 2020 Matching-cycle conducted through an urgently implemented E-interviews process. METHOD: A cross-sectional, nationwide survey (Additional file 1) was sent to 4153 residency-nominated applicants to the (SCFHS) March 2020 cycle. RESULTS: Among the 510 candidates who responded, 62.2% applied for medical specialties, 20.2% applied for surgical specialties, and 17.6% applied for critical care and emergency specialties. Most respondents (61.2%) never had previous experience with web-based video conferences. Most respondents (80.2%) used the Zoom application to conduct the current E-interviews, whereas only 15.9% used the FaceTime application. 63.3% of the respondents preferred E-interviews over in-person interviews, and 60.6% rated their experience as very good or excellent. 75.7% of the respondents agreed that all their residency program queries were adequately addressed during the E-interviews. At the same time, 52.2% of them agreed that E-interviews allowed them to represent themselves accurately. 28.2% felt no stress at all with their E-interviews experience, while 41.2% felt little stressed and only 8.2% felt highly stressed. The factors that were independently and inversely associated with applicants’ level of stress with E-interviews experience were their ability to represent themselves during the interviews (p = 0.001), cost-savings (p < 0.001), their overall rating of the E-interviews quality (p = 0.007) and the speed of the internet connection (p < 0.006). CONCLUSION: Videoconferencing was implemented on an urgent basis during the COVID-19 pandemic in the medical residency application process in Saudi Arabia. It was perceived as an adequate and promising tool to replace in-person interviews in the future. Applicants’ satisfaction was mainly driven by good organization, cost-saving, and their ability to present themselves. Future studies to enhance this experience are warranted. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-021-02890-7.