Policies

Suggested Guidelines for Radiology Fellowship Applicant Second Visits

These guidelines apply to radiology fellowships that participate in the Match.

The COVID pandemic has altered the way in which interviews for residencies and fellowships have long been conducted.  The move to virtual interviews has positive and negative implications.  On the positive side, the virtual interviews allow a more standardized experience for the candidates, a decrease in cost for both candidates and programs, and a decrease in amount of time away from their current training and/or school (i.e. less time traveling and being off service).  On the negative side, the lack of candidates getting to personally view a program and the location can make deciding on a new location difficult and for programs the lack of having the candidate visit can make recruitment more difficult.

However, even before the pandemic the concern of inequity in the ability of candidates to travel to potential locations was being discussed.  This inequity was related to both the costs of traveling and also to various institutional policies related to time off to travel to interviews.  Foremost of concern with a mix of virtual and in-person interviews is that there will be inherent bias in having some candidates do virtual interviews and others do in-person interviews. This concern also exists with optional second visits. 

Note that although some programs may consider that allowing candidates to visit and talk with current fellows and residents while not contacting or interacting with program leadership is sufficient to assure candidates that the visit is not being used as a de facto ‘interview,’ there is concern among many that candidates will believe that the interactions with residents and fellows is somehow being used to assess and rank the candidate. It has often been said to candidates that  any interaction with the program should be considered as part of the program’s assessment of the candidate.  It is very hard to eliminate that perception by candidates and thus they may be hesitant to visit a program or feel that it is vitally important to visit in order to have a chance at getting highly ranked.

Each program should consider how they can reassure applicants that a second visit is truly optional and will not be used in determining their rank list. Setting up a transparent process for assessing and ranking candidates that reduces these biases (or at least the perception of bias) is important.  

One possible solution that programs may choose to use is as follows: 

1. All candidates chosen for interview are interviewed virtually.
2. A date after the interviews is set and advertised to candidates as the time when ranking will occur by the program and that interactions with the candidates after this date will have no impact on ranking.
3. A date or dates (program visitation day/s) after the ‘ranking date’ is set to allow candidates to freely visit the site and program to assess the program from their standpoint prior to the candidates developing their rank list.  This can also serve as a recruitment activity by the programs.
4. To more fully assure candidates that rank list will not be altered by their attendance or lack of attendance at the program visitation day, the local GME office can monitor the rank list and oversee any changes to the list after the published program ‘ranking date’.

Whatever solution is chosen by each program, all programs should reassure candidates that the second visit is optional and is not being used by the programs as a de-facto second interview but purely to allow the applicant to get a better feel and understanding of their program.


January 2023 

 

SCARD 2022 Healthy Meeting Guidelines

SCARD’s top priority is the health and safety of our event participants. While it is not possible to remove all risks, SCARD is asking attendees to adhere to certain health and safety measures. 

Please help us keep everyone healthy and safe by following these guidelines while you are attending SCARD 2022.

• SCARD requires all meeting attendees, guests and SCARD staff to have received all doses in the primary vaccination series and at least one booster. Acceptable vaccines are those with FDA or WHO approval or emergency use authorization. 
• Mask use is recommended. 
• If you are feeling ill or experiencing flu-like symptoms or a rash, we ask that you take the following precautions:
• Avoid traveling if you are feeling ill.
• While at the meeting, please remain in your hotel room if you develop symptoms. Seek testing sites or medical care if you experience any of the following symptoms: fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash.
• If you have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 5 days, please remain in your hotel room or seek medical care. Do not attend SCARD 2022 in person.

SCARD will continue to monitor CDC recommendations and will update safety measures as appropriate. For the most up-to-date information on SCARD 2022 health and safety precautions and requirements, continue to monitor this page.

2022-23 SCARD Fellowship Embargo Guidelines

SCARD is pleased to announce the continuation of our fellowship embargo program. The program has been extremely successful in meeting its objectives of improving the fairness of the fellowship application process and providing our residents more time to experience all of Radiology sub-specialties before choosing their future career. In order to maintain flexibility, sub-specialties can either utilize the match or comply with the embargo dates. Based on feedback from many of you, below are the guidelines for this coming year (2022-23).

1. Interviews- All interviews should be virtual.

2. No onsite visits should be made by candidates.

3. Dates-

   1. Aug 1 – First day to accept applications

   2. Aug 1  – Open house webinars can begin

   3. Nov 7  – First day of interviews

   4. March 31 – Last day of interviews.

4. Offers can be made on the day of the interview but programs cannot send out more offers than they have spots to fill.

5. Applicants have until Nov 14th to accept or decline any offer made before Nov 14th. For any offer made on or after Nov 14th the candidate has a 1 day grace period to accept or decline the offer. (Please note that this is a change from our previous policy).

6. Exceptions to the embargo:

   1. Applicants whose spouse/domestic partner is also applying for a medical fellowship in the same year.    

   2. Internal candidates

   3. Military candidates.

   4. International candidates – international candidates are defined as applicants from programs that are neither ACGME or RCPS programs(i.e. Canadian applicants are NOT excluded from the embargo.)

7. Specialties that have the Match should participate for all external candidates and are strongly encouraged to participate for internal candidates as well. If a program chooses not to participate in a match for an external applicant, no offer to a candidate can be made until 12 weeks prior to the match date.

8. Neuro-interventional programs are excluded from this proposal as many are not under the direction of Radiology

To summarize the important dates for both match and non-match programs:

1. For sub-specialties that participate in the match:

Match Programs	Timeline	Important Dates
Applications	Applications may be accepted beginning	August 1, 2022
Interview Embargo Dates	Interviews may begin	November 7, 2022
	Interviews completed	March 31, 2023
NRMP Dates	Match Day	To be determined by the NRMP

 

1. For sub-specialties that do not participate in the match:

Non Match Programs	Timeline	Important Dates
Applications	Applications may be accepted beginning	August 1, 2022
Interview Embargo Dates	Interviews may begin	November 7, 2022
	Interviews completed	March 31, 2023
Acceptance Embargo Date	No fellowship may offer acceptances before this date	November 7, 2022
Grace Period	Applicants have until Nov 14th to accept or decline any offer made before Nov 14th. For any offer made after Nov 14th the candidate has a 1 day grace period to accept or decline the offer.

This proposal is supported by the Association of Program Directors in Radiology, the Association of Program Directors in Interventional Radiology, the Society of Skeletal Radiology, the Society of Thoracic Radiology, the American Society of Emergency Radiology, the American Society of Neuroradiology, the Society of Breast Imaging, the Society of Interventional Radiology, the Society for Pediatric Radiology, and the Society of Abdominal Radiology.