iPhone Application Helps Med Students Find Best Residency Fit

Madison, Wisconsin - Technology is making it easier for future family-medicine physicians to decide on where they want to serve their residencies.

An iPhone application developed by the UW Department of Family Medicine (DFM) called Residency Rater helps fourth-year medical students identify the postgraduate training program that may be the best fit for their interests.

The free application allows students to choose from more than 400 family-medicine residency programs nationwide, and rate each one on a number of criteria including work environment, community, curriculum strength, clinical interests and use of technology in patient care and education.

Residency Rater is far different from other health care-oriented materials now available on mobile devices that retrieve information on drug references, medical student anatomy education and other clinical tools. Dr. Kathy Oriel, director of DFM's residency program, says it will help students decide on their residency based on multiple levels.

"We hoped to create a tool that would be fun to use, and would help expand thinking about what each student values in finding a family-medicine residency program," she says. "Most students find data and organization reassuring, so we wanted to create a template that could decrease the stress of the process."

Justin Knupp, information and technology services director at the DFM, says Residency Rater provides medical students a portable way to manage a large amount of information while they research programs.

 
"It isn't meant to take the place of making a decision," he says. "It's a tool to help students record their thoughts and provide a means of evaluation to help them make better decisions."

Ken Hemba, a fourth-year student at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia now doing rotations at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, has used Residency Rater.

 
"I'm very impressed with how comprehensive, usable and flexible it is," he says. "It allows me to track the criteria I value the most in a residency program. I believe the Residency Rater could be an essential tool for any student interested in applying for a residency in family medicine."

Oriel hopes Residency Rater will pioneer development of other mobile applications geared toward graduate medical education for resident physicians.

"Our resident physicians wanted to share the pride and enthusiasm they have for our program while making the process easier for other students, no matter where they choose to train," she says. "It will be interesting to see what students think, and to see if other specialties might be interested in a similar tool."