Document Type
Original Report
Disciplines
Higher Education | Medicine and Health Sciences
Abstract
Purpose: The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) Fellowship Compendium is an extensive bibliography that serves to prepare fellows for their end-of-year board exams. Access to a current version is variable among fellowship programs. If Compendium articles—current and updated—are made directly available to fellows on the Fellows-In-Training AAFPRS website, then easier access to the preparatory exam material could improve their review of the material and their overall education. This study surveyed past AAFPRS fellows to determine the usefulness of hyperlinks to the Compendium bibliography.
Methods: AAFPRS fellows from 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 received a 9-question survey by email inquiring about their access to the Compendium articles, their individual efforts to collect articles, the time taken to search for updated articles, and if any obstacles existed in the process. Participation was voluntary, and survey results were anonymous.
Results: A total of 55 survey responses were collected, with a 50% response rate. Fifty-six percent of fellows reported collecting less than 50 articles, and only 9% collected >200, yet 70% stated they rely on the Compendium for board preparation. Over 40% of fellows spent >60 hours collecting articles, and 26% reported spending >100 hours. There was a statistically significant positive association between hours spent by fellows while collecting articles and the perceived impact on their education if links to all articles were made easily accessible on the Fellows-In- Training website (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07 – 2.28; p=0.02). More than 80% of fellows do not expect to collect all the articles, yet 100% predict a positive impact on their fellowship education if the articles are made easily accessible.
Conclusion: Access to the Compendium articles lacks consistency across the fellowship programs and requires fellows to spend a significant amount of time searching for Compendium references. Responses from this group acknowledge the positive impact of having the Compendium readily accessible via hyperlinks on the fellows' AAFPRS homepage.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.32873/unmc.de.gmerj.6.1.005
Keywords
education, fellowship training, disparity, facial plastic surgery
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Boochoon, K., Yousef, A., , Watson, D. Barriers to Education: Limited Accessibility of Study Material Used During Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Training. Graduate Medical Education Research Journal. 2024 Jun 27; 6(1).
https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/gmerj/vol6/iss1/6
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