What does the multiple mini interview have to offer over the panel interview?

Area of Science:

• Medical education research
• Admissions assessment

Background:

• Traditional panel interviews (PI) are used for medical school admissions.
• The multiple mini interview (MMI) is an alternative assessment format.
• Assessing applicant suitability beyond academic metrics is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare multiple mini interview (MMI) performance with panel interview (PI) performance.
• Evaluate the MMI's ability to identify behavioral concerns.
• Assess the acceptability of the MMI in a diverse applicant pool.

Main Methods:

• 133 medical school applicants completed both a PI and an MMI.
• MMI involved ten 8-minute stations with individual faculty assessment.
• Applicant acceptability was measured via a questionnaire.

Main Results:

• MMI scores significantly correlated with PI scores (r=0.438, p=0.001).
• MMI performance was poorer for applicants flagged with behavioral concerns.
• MMI acceptability was high across different demographic groups.

Conclusions:

• The MMI offers a potentially more objective measure of interpersonal skills than the PI.
• The MMI is a viable and acceptable assessment tool for diverse medical school applicants.
• MMI effectively identifies behavioral concerns, aiding holistic applicant evaluation.