2021-2022 Residency Navigator Program Director Hub: Frequently Asked Questions

· The Residency Navigator Team


[FAQ] | [Review Guidelines] | [Program Director Checklist] | [Collateral & Email Templates]


General Questions

1) There are 2 different types of Residency Navigator surveys. What is the difference between the two types of surveys?

The Satisfaction Survey allows current residents and alumni to provide feedback on several program characteristics and submit an anonymous written review of the residency program where they trained.

The Nomination Survey asks eligible candidates to nominate up to five residency programs that provide the best clinical training in their specialty, which is then weighted to construct an analysis that is nationally representative of the opinions of board-certified U.S. physicians in that specialty.

2) How do the Surveys contribute to the Residency Navigator?

The Satisfaction Survey: The data from these surveys powers the free-text reviews and ratings on culture, work flexibility, etc. on your program’s page, but does not influence the ordering of programs on the site (research, reputation, etc).

The Nomination Survey: When prospective applicants use Residency Navigator, they can sort and filter programs by criteria such as location and training environment, alumni research output and subspecialization rates, program size, and clinical reputation. The reputation component is powered by the Nomination Survey.

3) When do the Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys open?

The Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys open on April 29th.

4) When do the Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys close?

The Nomination Survey closes on June 4th. Starting this year, in an effort to provide the most up-to-date, relevant program reviews to our users, we will not be closing the Satisfaction Survey. We will continue to publish reviews in a timely manner after the launch date in mid-July. However, for the review to be included on the 2021-2022 Residency Navigator on launch date, The Satisfaction Survey must be submitted by June 4th.

5) When does the 2021-2022 Residency Navigator launch?

To give 4th year medical students enough time to research programs and prepare for residency applications, we will launch the 2021-2022 Residency Navigator in mid-July (specific date TBD).

You can currently see the 2020-2021 Residency Navigator by visiting https://doximity.com/residency.

6) Where can I find Doximity’s Residency Navigator?

You can find Residency Navigator on Doximity’s desktop application and Doximity’s mobile application.

Program Director and Program Administration Questions

7) I am a program administrator, how can I access my program’s page in Residency Navigator?

If you are a program administrator who is also a physician, please login with your Doximity account to access Residency Navigator.

If you are a non-physician program administrator and want to access Residency Navigator, please email residency@doximity.com so we can provide access for you.

7) Some of the information on my residency program’s page is incorrect. How can I update or correct it?

Unfortunately you will not be able to directly edit or change any of the information yourself. Please email residency@doximity.com for any requests for changes.

8) What is the spreadsheet and why should I fill it out?

Completing the spreadsheet ensures that all of your residents and alumni are properly attributed to your residency program. This will allow them to participate in the survey(s), and have them appear on your program page. Please complete this spreadsheet and email it to residency@doximity.com no later than April 19th.

Important Note: The deadline to submit the spreadsheet is April 19th to ensure all of your program's eligible survey recipients get the survey. Doximity will still accept your spreadsheet after this date, but we will not be able to guarantee expedient processing of your document. This may delay your program's current residents and alumni from participating in the surveys.

9) What is the program summary and why should I create one?

Your program summary is a small paragraph that highlights special attributes about your institution and personalizes your residency program’s page. Topics can include your program’s culture, learning and training opportunities, approach to medicine, etc. The more unique and personalized your program summary is, the more value you will provide to residency candidates. Please submit a program summary of 150 words to residency@doximity.com at your earliest convenience.

Important Note: You are more than welcome to use the same program summary from last year’s iteration of Residency Navigator. If that is the case, there is no need to submit a new program summary.

10) How can I submit my residency program’s logo and what are the file size requirements?

Your program logo should be 320x320. Please email it to residency@doximity.com no later than April 19th.

Important Note: Doximity can only upload institution-specific logos, not program-specific logos. Example: If there is a logo unique to the Emergency Medicine program for the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Doximity will be unable to upload this. Doximity can only upload the institutional logo for the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, which will then apply to all residency programs associated with the institution.

Participation and Eligibility Questions

11) Who is eligible to participate in the Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys for Residency Navigator?

Satisfaction Survey Eligibility Requirements:

A participant must be a Doximity member who is either (1) a current resident who has completed at least 1 year of residency OR (2) an alum who has graduated from his/her program within the last 10 years.

Important Note: If an eligible participant has already completed a Satisfaction Survey before, he or she will be ineligible to participate again.

Nomination Survey Eligibility Requirements:

(1) A participant must be a Doximity member AND (2) a U.S. board-certified physician in one of the 28 specialties covered by Residency Navigator AND (3) have comprehensive residency training data on their Doximity profile.

Important Note: Eligible physicians are welcome to participate in the Nomination Survey every year.

12) What do my residents and alumni need to include on their Doximity profiles to ensure they are able to participate?

For the Nomination Survey, your alumni (current residents are not eligible to participate since they are not board certified) MUST include the following on their Doximity profiles:

  • Residency Program with years attended, located in the “Education & Training” section
  • Board Certification, located in the “Certification & Licensure” section with a currently valid certification (if applicable)

Important Note: The participant MUST include their residency program affiliation AND their valid Board Certification on their Doximity profile, otherwise Doximity will be unable to attribute the participant to their respective residency program or identify their board certification.

For the Satisfaction Survey, your residents and alumni must include the following on their Doximity profiles:

  • Residency Program with years attended, located in the “Education & Training” section

Important Note: The participant MUST include their residency program affiliation on their Doximity profile, otherwise Doximity will not be able to attribute the participant to their respective residency program.

13) How can eligible participants access the Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys?

There are three different ways eligible residents and alumni of residency programs can access and complete the surveys.

Option 1: Click the direct links to the surveys:

Option 2: Directly log into Doximity starting April 29th. Eligible participants can access the survey(s) by clicking on the survey nudge(s) at the top right corner of their homepage:

Option 3: Complete the Survey(s) via email. An email will be sent to eligible participants in waves starting April 29th. The email will be sent to the email address associated with each participant’s Doximity account.

14) Some of my residents or alumni have tried to participate in the survey(s), but see a message that says “You are not currently eligible to participate in this survey.” Why?

There are a few reasons why they could be seeing this message:

Nomination Survey

  • They are not a U.S. board-certified physician.
  • They are not a U.S. board-certified physician in one of the 28 specialties covered by Residency Navigator.
  • They have not listed your residency program (with start and end years) on their Doximity profile page. If they have attended a residency program and have not listed the program on their Doximity profile, Doximity will not be able to identify them as a resident of a program and an eligible participant for the Nomination Survey.
  • They did not list their board certification on their Doximity profile or their board certification listed is not active (expired). Even if they are board certified, if they have not listed their board certification on their Doximity profile, Doximity will not be able to identify them as a board certified physician and an eligible participant for the Nomination Survey.

Satisfaction Survey

  • They have previously participated in a Satisfaction Survey in prior years
  • They have not yet completed one full year of residency
  • They graduated from your residency program more than 10 years ago
  • They have not listed your residency program (with start and end years) on their Doximity profile page. If they have attended a residency program and have not listed the program on their Doximity profile, Doximity will not be able to identify them as a resident of a program and an eligible participant for the Satisfaction Survey.

How to fix these problems:

For the Nomination Survey: if you are missing your board certification and the years the certification is valid, please add that information to your Doximity profile, and wait 24 hours so our system resets your eligibility and vote again.

For the Satisfaction Survey: if you are missing your residency program on your profile, please add your residency program with the years attended, and wait 24 hours so our system resets your eligibility and vote again.

15) Some of my residents and alumni have not received the email with the Nomination and Satisfaction Surveys. Why?

The Nomination and Satisfaction Survey emails will be sent in waves starting April 29th. If they have not received an email yet and meet all of the criteria listed in Question 4, they can participate by clicking the direct links to the surveys here:

The Nomination and Satisfaction Survey emails being sent out to participants include the same exact links, so rest assured that participating via the direct links is the same as participating via email.

Important Note: If your residents or alums click the link(s) and see a message that says “You are not currently eligible to participate in this survey”, please see answer to Question 6. If they still feel that they should be eligible, please have them contact residency@doximity.com for further assistance.

16) Some of my residents or alumni have logged into their Doximity account and do not see a Nomination Survey or Satisfaction Survey nudge. Why?

It most likely means that they are ineligible to participate in one or both of the surveys. See answer to Question 6. If they are eligible to participate and they still do not see a nudge, please have them use these direct links as an alternative:

Program Page Stats Questions

17) Where do you get the [statistic] from?

We gather the following information from the ACGME database:

  • Name of program (we display the program name exactly as it is listed on ACGME)
  • Program phone number
  • Program website URL
  • Program Director and Program Coordinator names and contact information
  • Total Filled Spots
  • Accredited Fellowship Programs
  • Where You’ll Spend Your Time

Important Note: If you would like to update or change any of the information that we derive from the ACGME, please correct this information on the ACGME database. If you have updated the information correctly on the ACGME database by June 1st, your information will be displayed correctly on your residency program’s page in Residency Navigator when it launches in July. If there have been changes made to any ACGME-related data after Residency Navigator has launched, please submit a screenshot of the change to residency@doximity.com and we will attend to the change as soon as possible.

We derive the following residency program statistics from your population of residents and alumni user profiles on Doximity:

  • Gender Balance
  • Top Feeder Schools
  • Top Alumni Cities
  • Percentage of Alumni Who Subspecialize
  • Alumni Publication Percentile
  • Alumni Clinical Trial Percentile

If you have any other questions not included in the FAQ, please contact residency@doximity.com.


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