Research Assistant Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Yardley, Pennsylvania, United States
Introduction: The Doximity Residency Navigator (DRN) is a widely used tool to assist students in making informed residency decisions. This study aims to investigate whether Doximity’s survey-based reputation rankings associate with objective data of neurological surgery residency programs.
Methods: Rankings, relevant criterion (reputation, research output and percentage of graduates that subspecialize), and program size for all neurological surgery residency programs in the United States were obtained from the 2020-2021 DRN. Independent correlation analyses were run to ascertain the relationship between reputation ranking and 1) program size, 2) research output ranking and 3) ranking of the percentage of graduates who subspecialize.
Results: A select group of institutions routinely comprise Doximity’s top-ranked positions, including University of California (San Francisco), Barrow Neurological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, University of Washington, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, and NY Presbyterian (Columbia), all of which have ranked in the top 10 since 2015. A statistically significant negative correlation was observed between reputation ranking and program size [rs =-0.74, 95% CI: (-0.81, -0.64), p< 0.001. Fitted simple linear regression of reputation ranking and program size revealed a slope of -0.13 ± 0.01 (standard error) and a r2 value of 0.56 (p < 0.001). Reputation ranking and research output ranking [rs =0.74, 95% CI: (0.65, 0.82), p< 0.001. Fitted simple linear regression of reputation ranking and research output ranking revealed a slope of 0.74 ± 0.06 (standard error) and a r2 value of 0.55 (p < 0.001). No significant correlation between reputation ranking and the ranking based on the percentage of graduates that subspecialize was found [rs =-0.01, 95% CI: (-0.20, 0.18), p=0.91].
Conclusion : Reputation rankings of neurosurgical residency programs put forth by Doximity Inc. incorporate reputational data and other objective outcome criteria. A nuanced understanding of the Doximity rankings will facilitate its use by medical students and healthcare professionals.
