Musculoskeletal Ultrasound as a Motivator for Selecting a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program in the United States: A Multicenter Survey Study.
Altamash E Raja, Alexander Shustorovich, David M Robinson and 6 others
PMID 33605576WHAT IT FOUND
Most of 180 applicants to physical medicine and rehabilitation residency rated ultrasound exposure very important or essential for interviews and rank order lists.
Faculty-led teaching was preferred. This concerns physician recruitment, not patient care.
Key findings
0171% of respondents rated musculoskeletal ultrasound exposure as very important or absolutely essential for interview selection, and 74% rated it very important or absolutely essential when constructing their rank order list.
0293% said they were likely or very likely to use ultrasound in future practice, and 83% said they were likely or very likely to recommend a program with ultrasound to future candidates.
03Respondents ranked a dedicated faculty-led ultrasound curriculum first, followed by faculty who routinely use ultrasound in clinic, lectures, resident-led curriculum, and opportunities to teach medical students.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Only 180 of 666 contacted applicants responded (27%), so the findings may not represent all applicants. The survey was optional and self-reported, and responders may differ from nonresponders. Two institutions offered only PGY-2 positions, which may have limited the applicant pool studied. Participants were not asked to rank their top three areas of residency education, so the three selections may have been viewed as equally important. The education-method question did not include all possible options, such as funding to attend outside courses. White participants were overrepresented compared with the 2020 ERAS applicant pool (p=0.020).
Declared interests
No authors reported competing interests. No funding was obtained, and no author stood to gain financial benefit.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that ultrasound training improves patient care or that all therapy applicants value it. It reports self-rated preferences among 180 physical medicine and rehabilitation residency applicants, not patient outcomes.