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Thematic Analysis of Emergency Medicine Applicants’ Personal Statements

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Abstract

Background

The personal statement is an important part of the residency application. Although guidance exists, the composition of personal statements is not standardized; each statement reflects an applicant’s unique personality. In emergency medicine (EM), the personal statement could thus provide insight into why applicants are choosing EM and what they hope to accomplish in the field that could guide advisors and applicants.

Objective

To perform a thematic analysis of personal statements from applicants accepted into an academic EM residency program to gain insight into what successful applicants include in their personal statements, why applicants are pursuing careers in emergency medicine, and anticipated career goals.

Methods

Thematic analysis was performed on ten randomly selected personal statements from matched allopathic, U.S. applicants at a single, large, urban 3-year EM residency program between 2008 and 2015. Themes and sub-themes were identified and analyzed for frequency.

Results

Ten personal statements were analyzed. Thirty-one (31) unique themes were identified and grouped into five main themes: personal characteristics related to a career in EM (38.3%, 116/303), why I love EM (36%, 109/303), my story (13.5%, 41/303), my career in EM (8.9%, 27/303), and ideal characteristics of a residency program (3.3%, 10/303). The most common personal characteristics described were altruism and the ability to work well under pressure. Applicants love EM due to the diversity of patients and disease presentations and the ability to perform procedures.

Conclusions

Thematic analysis of EM applicants’ personal statements highlights the uniqueness of EM as a specialty and what draws applicants to EM.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, 1120 Sansom St, Thompson Building, Suite, Philadelphia, PA, 1651, USA

    Xiao Chi Zhang MD, MS

  2. Department of Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Jeremy Lipman MD

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah Hospital, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Randy Jensen MD, PhD

  4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Kendra Parekh MD

Authors
  1. Xiao Chi Zhang MD, MS
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  2. Jeremy Lipman MD
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  3. Randy Jensen MD, PhD
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  4. Kendra Parekh MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao Chi Zhang MD, MS.

Ethics declarations

This study received an ethical approval (IRB-Exempt no. 18E.436).

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Zhang, X., Lipman, J., Jensen, R. et al. Thematic Analysis of Emergency Medicine Applicants’ Personal Statements. Med.Sci.Educ. 29, 659–665 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00752-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00752-y

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