Effect of teleconferencing variables on faculty impression of mock residency applicants

Ivy A Huang; Yasmeen Dhindsa; Alina J Chen; James Wu; Justin P Wagner; Areti Tillou; Formosa Chen

doi:10.1007/s44186-022-00053-w

Effect of teleconferencing variables on faculty impression of mock residency applicants

Global Surg Educ. 2022;1(1):50. doi: 10.1007/s44186-022-00053-w. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Authors

Ivy A Huang¹, Yasmeen Dhindsa¹, Alina J Chen¹, James Wu¹, Justin P Wagner¹, Areti Tillou¹, Formosa Chen¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Surgery, University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, 72-227 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA.

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess how teleconferencing variables influence faculty impressions of mock residency applicants.

Methods: In October 2020, we conducted an online experiment studying five teleconferencing variables: background, lighting, eye contact, internet connectivity, and audio quality. We created interview videos of three mock residency applicants and systematically modified variables in control and intervention conditions. Faculty viewed the videos and rated their immediate impression on a 1-10 scale. The effect of each variable was measured as the mean difference between the intervention and control impression ratings. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to assess whether ratings varied across applicants. Paired-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to assess the significance of the effect of each variable.

Results: Of 711 faculty members who were emailed a link to the experiment, 97 participated (13.6%). The mean ratings for control videos were 8.1, 7.2, and 7.6 (P < .01). Videos with backlighting, off-center eye contact, choppy internet connectivity, or muffled audio quality had lower ratings when compared with control videos (P < .01). There was no rating difference between home and conference room backgrounds (P = .77). Many faculty participants reported that their immediate impressions were very much or extremely influenced by audio quality (60%), eye contact (57%), and internet connectivity (49%).

Conclusions: Teleconferencing variables may serve as a source of assessment bias during residency interviews. Mock residency applicants received significantly lower ratings when they had off-center eye contact, muffled audio, or choppy internet connectivity, compared to optimal teleconferencing conditions.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44186-022-00053-w.

Keywords: Medical education; Personnel selection; Residency interviews; Technology; Videoconferencing.

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