Multiple Mini-interviews for Medical Students’ Admissions: Students and Faculty Perceptions on Acceptability and Feasibility
Gulfreen Waheed, Sadia Zia, Yasir Ali Bhatti, Mavrah Zafar, Muhammad Saad Aziz
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ABSTRACT
Aim: To evaluate the
acceptability and feasibility of the multiple mini interviews for selecting
medical students for admission in a medical institution.
Methods: The current
cross-sectional descriptive study is a 12-item questionnaire-based survey with a
four-point Likert scale to record the anonymous responses of the candidate
students’ and the interviewer faculty perceptions. Descriptive statistics were used
to analyze the data quantitatively with IBM SPSS Version 25. The study
evaluated the acceptability and feasibility of the utility of multiple
mini-interviews (MMIs) as an assessment tool for the medical students’
selection in the admission process at Avicenna Medical College, Lahore,
Pakistan.
Results: A total of 438
candidate students and 42 interviewer/assessor faculty members participated in
the study. Most of the candidate students (92.2%) of candidates and 97.6% of interviewer
faculty regarded MMIs better than the traditional interviews for the selection
of medical students. Further, 99.4% of candidate students and 97.6% of interviewer
faculty were satisfied with the MMI process’s general arrangements. Finally, a
hundred percent interviewer faculty and 96.8% of candidate students perceived
MMIs as a feasible assessment tool for the admission process of the medical
institutions.
Conclusion: The overall
positive responses of the candidate students and the interviewer faculty for
the acceptability and feasibility of the MMI process as an assessment tool in
the admission process to select medical students provide evidence for future
research on the use of MMIs. In addition, other medical institutions can adapt
or modify the MMI process per the available finances and resources within their
local settings.
Keywords: Multiple mini-interviews,
Medical college admission process, acceptability, feasibility.