key: cord-0052078-0x8sck51 authors: Iftekhar, Noama; Zhitny, Vladislav Pavlovich; Sombilon, Elizabeth Viernes; Stile, Frank title: Evaluating the Accessibility and Content of Plastic Surgery Training Program Websites date: 2020-09-17 journal: Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open DOI: 10.1097/gox.0000000000003115 sha: 96822eb96d5b0da7f4d88e3bad480fcb718e0c41 doc_id: 52078 cord_uid: 0x8sck51 nan Sir, T he educational experience of plastic surgery training has had many changes over the last 2 decades. A large number of programs transitioned to a 6-year integrated format, allowing applicants to apply directly into plastic surgery upon graduation from medical school. The integrated plastic surgery residency ranks as one of the most competitive residencies for prospective applicants. 1 With the challenges of the current COVID-19 pandemic, residencies and applicants must make changes to their typical methods of evaluation. The American Association of Medical Colleges has provided guidelines for virtual interviews and discouraged visiting rotations this upcoming match cycle. Programs must make information more readily available through webbased resources for applicants to gauge and rank programs for their final match list. Even before the current pandemic, websites have been reported to affect an applicant's program selection for both application and rank list. [2] [3] [4] [5] Many studies have demonstrated that there is limited content available on these program sites. 2, 3, 5 We investigated the content and accessibility of these websites-the initial source of information available to prospective residents. In May 2020, 3 investigators accessed the websites of 82 plastic surgery programs as listed by the NRMP (National Residency Matching Program). These assessments occurred independently, and criteria were agreed upon before data collection. A Google search for the programs included "program name" and "plastic surgery residency." A set of 15 criteria, based on other studies, were selected for evaluation, including program description, application information, research, and benefits (Table 1) . [2] [3] [4] [5] "Life in the area" was included due to travel limitations for this upcoming cycle. All programs were searchable on Google with a publicly accessible website. The results are listed in Table 1 . The number of criteria contained within these websites varied with a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 14 data points identified. The mean number of criteria listed on these program sites was 8.93 (59.5%). Twenty-three residencies (27.4%) included <50% of the criteria. Sixty-eight programs (80.9%) included <75% of the criteria. The mean number of criteria was similar to those reported in other assessments of residency program websites-albeit other specialties. 2 Plastic surgery sites could improve their current platforms in terms of information dissemination; it is advised that these programs update their website to reflect the aforementioned criteria, which have been reported in several studies. [2] [3] [4] [5] Limitations to our study include that only the presence of the aforementioned criteria were recorded and that the websites could have been updated to include the criteria after the data collection. Many programs are electing to complete social media profiles. For example, a cursory search by our team yielded in July 2020 66 programs (80.4%) that owned an Instagram page. Some hospitals have strict criteria over what can be placed on websites, with long approval times, which make social media a timely option for communication and program information. As many of these PRS Global Open • 2020 social media sites are new, it is recommended that programs maintain an up-to-date, comprehensive internet presence to improve the residency process under current limitations. How competitive is plastic surgery? An analysis of the Canadian and American residency match Accessibility and content of abdominal transplant fellowship program websites in the United States Hand society and matching program web sites provide poor access to information regarding hand surgery fellowship An evaluation of accessibility and content of microsurgery fellowship websites Aspects of residency programs' web sites important to student applicants The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this article.