This retrospective cross-sectional study sought to determine if there was a change in geographical trends in the orthopedic surgery residency match with the use of virtual interviews. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visiting rotations at outside institutions were restricted and all residency interviews were conducted virtually for the 2021 match. Given these restrictions, it was hypothesized that applicants would match at a higher rate to their medical school-affiliated residency programs, or geographically nearby their medical school. Data was collected from residency program website and social media accounts to determine if the use of virtual interviews correlated with a decreased rate of matching at outside institutions. During the 2021 match, applicants who applied to orthopedic surgery in 2021 were more likely to match at their medical school-affiliated institution (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.18–1.80; p < 0.01) compared to applicants during previous years. However, match rates were not different in terms of geographical regions. Virtual interviews are more cost-effective for both applicants and programs, however, this study demonstrates there are associated changes with this new interview structure. The utility of virtual interviews as a standard method in the future should take this change in trend into consideration.

中文翻译：

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虚拟访谈在骨科住院医师匹配中的应用及新趋势

这项回顾性横断面研究试图确定骨科手术住院医师匹配的地理趋势是否因使用虚拟访谈而发生变化。由于 COVID-19 大流行，外部机构的访问轮换受到限制，所有住院医师面试都是为 2021 年比赛进行的。鉴于这些限制，假设申请人会以更高的比率匹配他们的医学院附属住院医师计划，或者在地理位置上靠近他们的医学院。从住院医师项目网站和社交媒体账户收集数据，以确定虚拟面试的使用是否与外部机构匹配率下降相关。在 2021 年的比赛中，p  < 0.01) 与前几年的申请人相比。但是，就地理区域而言，匹配率没有差异。虚拟面试对申请人和项目来说都更具成本效益，但是，这项研究表明这种新的面试结构有相关的变化。虚拟面试作为未来标准方法的效用应该考虑到这种趋势变化。