UC Irvine

Objectives

To investigate how the decision to report United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 score as pass/fail will influence future otolaryngology residency application and match processes.

Study design

Survey study.

Methods

An anonymous and voluntary survey approved by the Otolaryngology Program Directors Organization was administered to academic faculty members from April 24, 2020 through May 19, 2020.

Results

Two hundred fifty-seven surveys were received from department chairs (17.5%), program directors (24.1%), associate program directors (12.5%), and department faculty (45.9%). USMLE Step 1 has been the most heavily weighted metric for offering interviews (44.0%), and it has correlated with residents' medical knowledge (77.0%) and in-service performance (79.8%) but not with surgical skills (57.6%) or patient care (47.1%). In total, 68.1% disagreed with the decision to make USMLE Step 1 pass/fail. This change is anticipated to lead to an increase in significance of USMLE Step 2 CK (89.1%), core clerkship grades (80.9%), elective rotation at the respective institutions (65.7%), Alpha Omega Alpha and other awards (64.6%), and letters of recommendation (63.8%). The new scoring is also anticipated to especially benefit students from top-ranked schools (70.8%), increase medical students' anxiety/uncertainty regarding obtaining interview invites (59.1%), and negatively affect international (51.4%), doctor of osteopathic medicine (45.9%), and underrepresented students (36.9%). Indication that USMLE Step 2 CK will significantly increase in weight varied according to department position (P = .049), geographic region (P = .047), years of practice (P < .001), and residency program size (P = .002).

Conclusion

Most academic otolaryngologists disagreed with changing USMLE Step 1 scoring to pass/fail and believe that it will increase other objective/subjective metrics' weight and put certain student populations at a disadvantage.

Level of evidence

N/A. Laryngoscope, 131:E738-E743, 2021.