THE AUDIENCE: Medical students and graduates of both U.S. and international medical schools who are seeking primary care medical residency placements in the United States.
THE PROBLEM: Medical Student and Graduate's inability to assess their competitiveness when applying to U.S. medical residency programs.
RELEVANT DISCUSSION: High USMLE scores and recent graduation dates are merely the beginning. Residency applicants typically find themselves inadequately prepared to assess their competitiveness. According to the American Academy of Medical Colleges, Residency Directors may utilize at least 29 various factors when evaluating and considering a residency applicant for an interview. Residency applicants can minimize uncertainties by utilizing the same tools admission committees use to evaluate residency applicants.
TYPICAL QUESTIONS ASKED BY RESIDENCY APPLICANTS: Why don't high USMLE scores guarantee residency interviews? Should I bother with U.S. letters of recommendation if I have already have foreign letters of recommendation? What are the criteria used by residency admission committees when choosing to grant or deny interviews to International Medical Graduates? Are U.S. hands-on clinical experience important? It took me 4 attempts to pass Step 1; does that matter?
PROPOSED RESOLUTION: Utilization of an objective, unbiased and free tool that provides simultaneous feedback about the subject audience's competitiveness as well as their statistical ability to secure residency interviews. This patent pending tool, developed by AmeriClerkships Medical Society, uses similar evaluation methodologies as used by typical residency admission committee members to evaluate residency applications. Butterfly is made available to the public at no cost.
NAME OF TOOL/SOLUTION: Butterfly Residency Interview Competitive Index Assessment FUNCTION OF BUTTERFLY COMPETITIVE INDEX ASSESSMENT TOOL: To provide residency applicants and residency progras their Residency Interview Competitive Index (CI), allowing each applicant flexibility with career path changes, such as specialty change, different residency location, or another career within the healthcare industry. Additionally, residency programs may now use Butterfly to get a snapshot of the competitiveness of the potential residents who they plan to interview; combined with personality profiling, Butterfly may serve as an invaluable screening tool.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE: Answer all 14 questions, which are typical questions asked by residency admission committee members. The end result will be a score out of a total of 99 points, better known as your Residency Interview Competitive Index (CI). Throughout using Butterfly, try different answers to see its effects on your CI, whether positive or negative. Once you've familiarized yourself with each factor, improve your chances by making notes of how to positively adjust each individual factor in order to maximize your CI.
INTERPRETATION OF C.I. SCORE: The results displayed on the top right will enable you to evaluate your accomplishments similar to how typical primary care residency admission committee members may evaluate your candidacy. Additionally, International Medical Graduates may dually use their C.I. Score (x10) as their Interview Probability Percentage (IP%): the percentage of obtaining ONE interview per TEN same-specialty primary care residency program that an IMG applies to (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics), if applied in the month of September. For example: an International Medical Graduate with a C.I. of 0.50 (Interview Probability of 50%) must apply to 200 same specialty primary care residency programs in order to expect 5 residency interviews.
OPPORTUNITY FOR FEEDBACK: Butterfly is an evolving assessment tool, therefore we welcome you to share your experience with us by emailing your feedback to Dr. Pedram Mizani at pedram.mizani@americlerkships.org. Thank you for using Butterfly.