Application Factors May Not Be Predictors of Success Among General Surgery Residents as Measured by ACGME Milestones

Background: Can factors within the Electronic Residency Application Service application be used to predict the success of general surgery residents as measured by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) general surgery milestones? Methods: This is a retrospective study of 21 residents who completed training at a single general surgery residency program. Electronic Residency Application Service applications were reviewed for objective data, such as age, US Medical Licensing Examination scores, and authorship of academic publications as well as for letters of recommendation, which were scored using a standardized grading system. These factors were correlated to resident success as measured by ACGME general surgery milestone outcomes using univariate and multivariate analyses. This study was conducted at a single academic tertiary care and level 1 trauma facility. Residents who completed general surgery residency training from the years of 2012-2018 were included in the study. Results: There were few correlations between application factors and resident success determined by the ACGME milestones. Conclusions: Application factors alone do not account for ongoing growth and development throughout residency. Unlike the results presented in the literature for other surgical subspecialties, predicting general surgery resident success based on application factors is not straightforward. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.