Exploring the relationships between first impressions and MMI ratings: a pilot study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• First impression phenomenon is well-researched in social psychology.
• Its impact on Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) is less understood.
• MMI is a key method for medical student selection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between first impression ratings and MMI performance.
• To determine if first impressions predict later communication skills in OSCEs.
• To analyze the influence of rater consistency on the correlation between first impression and MMI performance.

Main Methods:

• A first impression rating was incorporated into the MMI for medical student selection at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.
• 196 applicants and 26 pairs of raters participated.
• Correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between first impression, MMI performance, and subsequent OSCE scores.

Main Results:

• Internal consistency for first impression (α = .71) and MMI performance (α = .69) were acceptable.
• First impression and MMI performance showed a moderate correlation (r = .49).
• Both measures weakly predicted communication skills in later OSCEs, with no significant added predictive value from one measure over the other.

Conclusions:

• First impressions significantly correlate with MMI performance, aligning with social psychology findings.
• Rater judgments in MMI may blend task-specific assessment with perceived suitability for the medical profession.
• First impression ratings offer valuable insights in MMI, independent of subsequent performance evaluations by the same rater.