Attendings Secretary submitted wrong LOR

[septoplasty]

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So my attendings secratary just called and told me she accidentally uploaded a wrong LOR to the LWP from the link that I had sent. Subsequently, I sent her another link from it, and she uploaded a correct one.

Now, I finalized 2 LoR authors in myeras under the same doctor but different Specialty (FM/General), and Different "Hospital/Clinic Names" just to make sure I dont assign the "defective" LOR.

Now my question is:

The first link that I had sent from LWP I had listed the specialty as "FM & Department of FM, Hospital X", and so the wrong letter got uploaded to that.

The 2nd link (correct LOR) I sent from LWP I had listed the specialty as "General & Department of FM, X Medical Consultants ".

Now i've finalized ERAS Author Writers as:

Author: "FM & Department of FM, Hospital X"
Author: "General & Department of FM, X Medical Consultants"

Now will ERAS differentiate the two and assign accordingly?
Will the General be lined up to "General"?

Hopefully I've made the situation clear enough to understand.



PS: I've waived the letters, so wont be able to just open them and see which is which.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I think I understand what you're trying to ask, and if I've understood correctly, you're fine.

So, you created an LOR slot and sent the appropriate documentation to your letter writer's office. They wrote a letter for you, but the secretary uploaded the wrong letter -- perhaps someone else's letter. So, what to do?

(Side note: the LOR portal is specifically designed to avoid this. I uploaded letters for many of my residents applying for fellowships. When you use the portal to upload letters, it shows you the letter text and asks you to confirm that you've got the right letter for the right person. The sec must have just blown through that)

So, what should you do? It actually depends on whether you've assigned that letter to programs already or not.

If you've already assigned that letter to programs, then you are stuck. Once you assign a letter and it's uploaded into the post office, you cannot deassign it -- even if it hasn't been downloaded yet. They will get this erroneous letter, and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. Your only choice is to have the secretary re-upload the letter into the SAME slot with an explanation. You might think that would overwrite the old letter and replace it. But it doesn't -- it adds whatever you upload as an addendum to the initial letter. So programs will see the erroneous letter, and then attached to the bottom will be the correct letter. Less than ideal, but the best you can do.

If you haven't yet assigned the letter, here's what you do: You create a new LOR slot. You label that slot slightly differently, so you can tell the BAD upload from the new GOOD upload. You send the new LOR portal code generated to the secretary, who then uploads the GOOD letter into the new slot.

Now, all you have to do is make sure that the GOOD letter is the one you assign to programs, and you're all set. Remember that programs will not know anything about the BAD letter. It's up to you to get the correct letter assigned to programs -- there's nothing for ERAS to "line up". That's not the way ERAS works.

 

[septoplasty]

Luckily I haven't submitted my app yet.

Well with what I've done so far (sent request 2x, secretary uploaded 1 bad and 1 good LOR), you want me to get the good letter re-uploaded by the secretary for a 2nd time?

I'm an IMG, so I have to use the ECFMG (who acts as my deans office) to get the letters into OASIS who then transmits it to myeras, so what I had thought was that once I have the letters sent to OASIS, they'll transmit to myeras.

So if I send another copy of the same letter but with a different "name/designation" in LWP/OASIS wont people at OASIS get confused? Also, that would mean creating a 3rd "copy" of the same attendings name as a finalized author in myeras.

I was going to call up the ECFMG tomorrow and ask that they "delete" the wrong letter linked with the 1st upload.

Sorry if I made it more confusing, but I really appreciate your help.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If you haven't submitted yet, at least you can straighten this mess out before applying.

Calling ECFMG sounds like a fine idea, but I worry that trying to get through during the beginning of application season doesn't sound like fun. Expect to be on hold for a long time,

I think it's highly unlikely that they will delete anything. You can imagine someone telling them to delete LOR #3, and then calling back a day later saying "No, wait, I needed LOR #2 deleted. I need LOR #3 back!". They are going to do anything to avoid this, and so I doubt they will delete anything.

I'm still not certain what you mean by "sent request 2x, secretary uploaded 1 bad and 1 good LOR". If you gave the secretary the same upload code again, and had her repeat the process, then I can guarantee that slot has both the bad and the good letter in it, the good one appended to the bad. But from your description it sounded like you generated a new slot, with a new upload code, and gave the sec that -- in that case, you've done just what you need to do and there really isn't any reason to call ECFMG -- just do not assign the slot the bad letter is in to any program, and you're fine.

 

[septoplasty]

If you haven't submitted yet, at least you can straighten this mess out before applying.

Calling ECFMG sounds like a fine idea, but I worry that trying to get through during the beginning of application season doesn't sound like fun. Expect to be on hold for a long time,

I think it's highly unlikely that they will delete anything. You can imagine someone telling them to delete LOR #3, and then calling back a day later saying "No, wait, I needed LOR #2 deleted. I need LOR #3 back!". They are going to do anything to avoid this, and so I doubt they will delete anything.

I'm still not certain what you mean by "sent request 2x, secretary uploaded 1 bad and 1 good LOR". If you gave the secretary the same upload code again, and had her repeat the process, then I can guarantee that slot has both the bad and the good letter in it, the good one appended to the bad. But from your description it sounded like you generated a new slot, with a new upload code, and gave the sec that -- in that case, you've done just what you need to do and there really isn't any reason to call ECFMG -- just do not assign the slot the bad letter is in to any program, and you're fine.

I'm sorry I sound convoluted.

In short, I generated a new request, and sent it to the secretary, and she uploaded the good letter in that request.

The bolded part is what I dont understand. How will I differentiate the good letter from the bad in myeras? Since the author, designation, department is all the same.

Will they get linked appropriately?

My feared scenario is:

I select "Dr. A MD/FM" which should ideally contain the good letter (as linked by Dr Name / Designation) or viz verza w/ the RED BOX.