Program Directors Research Productivity and Other Factors of Anesthesiology Residency Programs That Relate to Program Doximity Ranking

Background: Program directors (PDs) play a crucial role in the competitiveness of the residency selection process and in mentoring the next generation of physicians. With this mandate comes the need to evaluate PDs on their own academic performance. We aimed to evaluate the distinguishing characteristics of anesthesiology residency programs with a focus on academic productivity of PDs and to investigate how these characteristics affect the Doximity program rank.

Methods: We identified anesthesiology program rankings from 2019 Doximity standings and divided them into quartiles (Q1-Q4). PD academic history and bibliometric indices (H-index, number of publications and citations) were collected through program websites, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) websites.

Results: A total of 152 active anesthesiology programs and PDs were identified across the United States. Among the 152 PDs, 32% (n = 49) were women and 68% (n = 103) were men. There were differences between the Q1 versus Q2 programs in all of the variables other than PDs' number of fellowships. However, Q2 versus Q3 and Q3 versus Q4 programs had fewer identified differences. Each of the assessed PDs' bibliometric indices showed weak correlation with the program rank; however, there were stronger correlated factors of program rank, such as the program's original ACGME accreditation date (rs = 0.5, P < .0001) and female resident percentage (rs = 0.36, P < .0001) with moderate positive correlation. Additionally, the program size (rs = 0.77, P < .0001) and the number of ACGME-approved fellowships provided by the program (rs = 0.75, P < .0001) had a very strong positive correlation.

Conclusion: This study shows that program rank in the growing field of anesthesiology correlates with program size, female residents' percentage, ACGME approval date, number of ACGME-approved fellowships, as well as PDs' research productivity.