Critical Analysis of Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Web Sites in the United States

Digital Equity in Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Websites: Toward Standardization, Quality, and Transparency

Improving trainee program websites may help applicants and programs in the era of virtual interviews

An evaluation of the content of hematology and medical oncology fellowship websites

Introduction

The growing demand for Hematology and Oncology services has greatly piqued the interest of potential residents towards this specialty. Since the programs' official websites are now becoming the primary source of information that potential residents turn to, we aimed to analyze program websites’ content and availability across parameters that have been used by evaluators of websites.

Methods

& Materials: A list of 181 fellowship programs were identified using The Fellowship and Residency Electronic and Interactive Database (FRIEDA). 160/181 were accessed via a hyperlink or Google search. Content of these websites was evaluated on a 40-point criteria system in 10 distinct domains. Websites without accessible links were excluded from the search.

Results

The 160 programs were divided based on the region with the North-East having the most programs (32.5%) and the West having the least programs (12.4%). Exactly 3/4th of the websites had been updated with the latest available information. “Program overview” (89%) was the most common domain present on the websites while “Alumni” was the least common, present on only (25%) of the websites.

Conclusion

When compared with previous similar research, there have been a few significant improvements across the programs' websites, however many still lack important information regarding certain domains. The content and availability of the program's website can encourage or deter an applicant, in their decision to apply to the program, hence making it necessary for programs to augment their websites.

•

Assessing the quality of content of fellowship programs using a 40-point criteria system for 10 distinct domains.

•

Aim is to help optimise applicant virtual experience when they're searching through fellowship websites.

•

The most prevalent domain mentioned by 89% of fellowship websites was ‘Program Overview’.

•

The least common domain reported was ‘Alumni information’ by only 23% fellowship programs.

Analysis of Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Website Content and Diversity Representation

PURPOSE

Hematology and oncology (HO) lags behind all medicine subspecialties in fellows under-represented in medicine (URM) despite a growing minority patient population. Websites have been effectively used in URM recruitment. We evaluated all US HO program websites to facilitate a more informed and URM-considerate recruitment. We also performed a stratified analysis on programs affiliated with National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Cancer Centers, National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network (NCCN) member institutions, and ranked as a top 50 cancer hospital by US News, given their stated commitment to outreach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Websites of all 2019-2020 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited HO programs were assessed for 28 informational and three diversity categories. Websites with > 70% of categories were comprehensive. Affiliation with NCI, NCCN, and US News was noted.

RESULTS

One hundred fifty-six websites were analyzed: 20% were comprehensive and 22% had any diversity information. Inclusion of diversity content and being comprehensive were significantly associated (P = .001). NCI, NCCN, and US News ranking were significantly associated with inclusion of more information in univariate analyses (P < .001, P = .008, and P < .001, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed that US News ranking was significantly associated with more information (P = .005). Diversity-related univariate and multivariate analyses showed a significant association with US News ranking (P = .006 and P = .029, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Most HO fellowship websites are not comprehensive and lack diversity content. Given COVID-19 travel restrictions limit in-person interviews, digital program presence remains an important opportunity. HO programs should offer comprehensive and inclusive websites to better inform applicants, including URM. This may increase institutional diversity and potentially improve URM representation in the HO workforce.