Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: May 26, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 3, 2021
Critical Evaluation of the Efficiency of Colorectal Fellowship Websites – Cross Sectional Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Websites are an important source of information for fellowship applicants as they can influence ongoing interest and potential program selection.
Objective:
To evaluate the current state of colorectal fellowship websites.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study evaluates the quantity and quality of information available on websites of colorectal fellowship programs verified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2019.
Results:
A total of 63 colorectal fellowships were included for evaluation. Websites were surveyed for content items that previous study has found to be influential to program applicants. The 58 (91%) programs with a functional website were evaluated using an information index (calculated as a function of availability of content items concerning education, application, personnel, and benefits) and an interactive index (calculated as a function of accessibility and usability of the webpage). Programs had a median total score of 27.8 (interquartile range 21.5-34.5) out of 79. The median score for interactive index was 7.5 out of 15 and information index was 20 out of 64. The median scores for website application, education, personnel, and benefits or life considerations were 5, 5.5, 3.3, and 4 out of 13, 24, 13, and 14, respectively. There was no difference in total score between programs in different geographical regions.
Conclusions:
Currently, colorectal surgery fellowship program websites do not provide enough content for applicants to make informed decisions. All training programs regardless of specialty should evaluate and improve their digital footprint to ensure their websites are accessible and provide the information desired by applicants.
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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.