Audiovisual content for Radiology Fellowship selection process: A pilot study using online questionnaires with smartphones in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Traditional radiology fellowships are usually one or two year clinical trainings in a specific area after completion of a four-year residency. Our purpose was to investigate the experience of fellowship applicants in answering radiology questions in an audiovisual format, using their own smartphones after answering radiology questions in a traditional printed text format as part of the application process during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our hypothesis is that fellowship applicants would find that recorded audiovisual radiology content adds value to the conventional selection process, may increase engagement by using their own smartphone device, and also facilitate understanding of imaging findings of radiology-based questions, while maintaining social distancing. One senior staff radiologist of each subspecialty prepared 4 audiovisual radiology questions for each subspecialty. We conducted a survey using online questionnaires for 123 fellowship applications for musculoskeletal (39), internal medicine (61) and neuroradiology (23) programs to evaluate the experience of using audiovisual radiology content as a complementary material for the conventional text evaluation. Positive responses were statistically significant in most questions. Use of audiovisual content as part of the selection process for radiology fellowships is a new approach to evaluate the potential to enhance of the applicant’s experience during this process. This technology also allows for the evaluation of candidates without the necessity of in-person interactions. Further studies could streamline these methods in order to minimize work redundancy with traditional text tests or even evaluate the acceptance of using only audiovisual content using smartphones.