INTRODUCTION
Matching into a micrographic surgery and dermatologic oncology (MSDO) fellowship is exceedingly competitive, resulting in applicants thoroughly researching potential programs.1 Previous studies have stated that applicants do heavily use information found on program website information when evaluating fellowship programs.2 Although traditional factors such as interviews historically played a large role in recruiting applicants, online-based content has increasingly become an important avenue for disseminating program-related information, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic which has largely prevented in-person visits.3 Given the increasing growth of dermatology residency applicants wanting to pursue MSDO fellowships, we conducted this study to assess and evaluate the accessibility and availability of MSDO fellowship applicant-relevant information on MSDO fellowship program websites.
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited MSDO fellowship programs were identified in April 2021. Based on previous studies, MSDO fellowship program websites were evaluated for the following applicant-relevant content: Mohs surgical case volume, case types, level of autonomy, presence of aesthetic procedure experience, multispecialty interaction, percentage of time spent performing general dermatology, on-call responsibilities, and moonlighting opportunities.4 The ‘website completeness’ was calculated as the percentage of the presence of the collective website variables for each program website.
Of 77 MSDO fellowship programs, 58 programs have websites (Table 1). Twenty-seven (47%) programs provide information about amount of Mohs surgical cases fellows perform and 39 (67%) programs provide information about the type of cases and procedures performed. Forty (69%) programs provide information about the level of aesthetic procedures fellows perform. 31 (53%) programs mention opportunities to rotate with other specialties, including oculoplastic surgery, plastic surgery, and otolaryngological surgery. Only one (2%) program mentioned information about fellows spending time performing general dermatology duties, two (3%) programs mentioned information about on-call responsibilities, and zero programs discussed moonlighting opportunities. The average website completeness was 33±19%. The highest completeness was 88%.
Currently, there remains a paucity of applicant-relevant information on MSDO fellowship websites based on our study’s evaluation. While more than half of websites include information about types of cases, aesthetic procedure experience, and opportunities to rotate with other specialties, applicant-relevant information regarding information like case volume is often
