Compliance with CDIM-APDIM Guidelines for Department of Medicine Letters: an Opportunity to Improve Communication Across the Continuum.

Background: With rising applications to internal medicine programs and pending changes in United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 score reporting, program directors desire transparent data for comparing applicants. The Department of Medicine Letters of Recommendation (DOM LORs) are frequently used to assess applicants and have the potential to provide clearly defined data on performance including stratification of a medical school class. Despite published guidelines on the expected content of the DOM LOR, these LORs do not always meet that need.

Problematic communications during 2016 fellowship recruitment in internal medicine.

Some internal medicine residency program directors have expressed concerns that their third-year residents may have been subjected to inappropriate communication during the 2016 fellowship recruitment season. The authors sought to study applicants' interpersonal communication experiences with fellowship programs. Many respondents indicated that they had been asked questions that would constitute violations of the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) Communications Code of Conduct agreement, including how they plan to rank specific programs.