To the Editor:
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Standardized Video Interview (SVI) is an asynchronous video interview in which interviewees provide audio/video responses to text-based questions. The SVI contains six questions targeting two Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies: Interpersonal and Communication Skills and (Knowledge of) Professionalism. The SVI evolved from calls in the residency community to consider factors beyond United States Medical Licensing Exam scores and to develop new tools for selecting residents.1
The leading academic societies in emergency medicine (EM) partnered with the AAMC to develop and evaluate the SVI in a longitudinal, multiphased approach.
Phase 1 was an institutional review board (IRB)-approved study in which 1,760 applicants from EM, internal medicine, pediatrics, and general surgery volunteered. Their scores and videos were confidential and not delivered to program directors. The purpose of Phase 1 was to explore the psychometric properties of the SVI. Based on results from this study, the EM-SVI Working Group recommended that the SVI move forward operationally for the 2018 electronic residency application service (ERAS) cycle.
Phase 2 of the SVI was an operational launch of a new selection tool. Its purpose was to provide information about applicants to program directors for use in selection. Activities not designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge are not considered research and do not require IRB oversight.2 Administration of the SVI does not require IRB review; however, several activities that will be conducted to evaluate the SVI do require IRB oversight: psychometric studies, program director and applicant surveys, and a local validity study involving a subset of programs.
We recommended that all applicants complete the SVI, so program directors could evaluate applicants using a standardized process. Discouraging full participation could have resulted in unintended consequences for applicants and programs. It would have limited our ability to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SVI and provide data to help program directors interpret results; however, as stated in the AAMC Standardized Video Interview Essentials, “completion of the SVI is not a required field in your ERAS application; therefore, you will not be barred from applying for a residency position in EM if you do not complete the video interview.”3
With the exception of the introduction of the Standardized Letter of Evaluation, little has changed in the residency selection process since 1997. We believe the SVI presents an opportunity to enhance the selection process by deemphasizing academic metrics and adding competencies that broaden the diversity of applicants invited to interview.
Steven B. Bird, MD
Professor of emergency medicine, vice chair of education, and residency program director, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5804-5063.
Andra Blomkalns, MD
Professor, vice chair for academic affairs and business development, and division chief of general emergency medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5760-6351.
Nicole M. Deiorio, MD
Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and assistant dean, Student Affairs and Colleges, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8123-1112.
Fiona E. Gallahue, MD
Associate professor of emergency medicine, Residency Program Director, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2690-3270; e-mail: [email protected]; Twitter: @FGallahue.
References
1. Prober CG, Kolars JC, First LR, Melnick DEA plea to reassess the role of United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores in residency selection. Acad Med. 2016;91:12–15.
2. Department of Health and Human Services. Code of Federal Regulations Title 45 Public Welfare Department of Health and Human Services Part 46 Protection of Human Subjects. Effective July 14, 2009.
https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/regulations/45-cfr-46/index.html. Accessed October 25, 2017.
3. Association of American Medical Colleges. The AAMC Standardized Video Interview: Essentials for the ERAS 2018 Season. June 5, 2017. Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges;
https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/f9/59/f959a480-6661-4d20-94b1-8da400197152/standardized_video_interview_essentials_for_eras_2018_6-14-2017.pdf. Accessed October 25, 2017.
