A Call to Action for Standardized Letters of Evaluation (JGME)

As more medical students are applying to residency and fellowship programs, the burden of reviewing applications and discriminating among individuals is increasing. In addition, studies highlight the need to intentionally target gender and other biases, which may affect underrepresented in medicine (UIM) applicants.^1–3  Integrating standardized letters into the application process may mitigate biases and improve the efficiency of the selection process.⁴  Standardized letters have been implemented in several medicine and surgery specialties, with a growing body of literature supporting their advantages over narrative letters of recommendation (LORs).^5,6  We pose a call to action to graduate medical education (GME) program leaders to collaborate in the process of developing and implementing residency- and fellowship-specific standardized letters across training programs.

Click the resource link to access JGME article >