2604 - Research Productivity among Applicants to an ACGME-Accredited U.S. Radiation Oncology Residency Program: 2015 to 2024
Presenter(s)
K. Hsieh1, N. J. Murphy1, D. R. Cherry2, B. L. Tran1, J. Runnels1, D. Arons1, R. Tirado1, K. Rosenzweig1, M. Buckstein1, and K. Sindhu1; 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 2Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Radiation Oncology, New York, NY
Purpose/Objective(s): The research productivity of radiation oncology (RO) residents has increased over the past two decades. However, less is known about how the research productivity and output of medical students applying to RO residency programs have changed over time. Thus, this study aims to analyze trends in research output among medical students pursuing RO residencies over the past decade.
Materials/Methods: We created a database of research outputs listed by applicants on Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) applications to a single, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited, US RO residency program between 2015 and 2024. Given a change in the format of the 2024 ERAS application, the number of research experiences from applicants that year was excluded from further analysis. The total number of applicants for a PGY-2 position in RO residency is calculated using publicly available data from National Resident Matching Program. Applicants who applied multiple times were counted only once for the demographic analysis (first application only) and multiple times for the research output analysis (each application). We used descriptive statistics, linear regression tests, and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. This study was approved by our Institutional Review Board.
Results: Our study included 1,495 applicants with 1,533 applications, representing 73.4% of the applications for RO PGY-2 residency positions over the examined time period. The majority of applicants were US citizens or permanent residents (90.6%), male (66.6%), did not obtain a PhD degree (88.4%), and attended a US medical school (84.2%). The mean number of research experiences, at 4.6 per application, did not increase between 2015 and 2023 (R2 = 0.00). The mean number of publications per application, however, increased from 10.8 to 16.5 between 2015 and 2024 (R2 = 0.60). Among unique applicants who attended a US medical school (n = 1259), there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) between the numbers of publications reported by non-PhD (mean 12.6) and PhD (mean 20.9) applicants. Overall, the two most common types of publications reported were peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts (n = 7552, 34.5%) and poster presentations (n = 7200, 32.9%). The mean number of peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts per application increased from 3.6 to 6.4 between 2015 and 2024, indicative of a trend (R2 = 0.73). No such trend was appreciated in the mean number of poster presentations per application over the same period (3.7 to 4.9; R2 = 0.20).
Conclusion: While the mean number of research experiences per RO residency application was largely stagnant over the study period, the mean number of publications increased by over 50%. Given that nearly half of recent RO residency graduates have entered private practice after graduation, a greater emphasis by residency programs on factors other than research may be warranted in recruiting and training residents.