Abstract:

Objectives:
Each year Internal Medicine Residency programs receive a large number of applications for residency training. After initial screening, interview invitations are offered to competitive applicants. The final residency rank list is dependent on a number of factors including academic performance during medical school, United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) scores, volunteer and research experience, and letters of recommendation by faculty. However, interview performance continues to play a major role in residency selection. For Match Year 2011, we introduced group interviews as a method of improving and optimizing the interview process for both faculty and applicants. We conducted a post interview survey of applicants to determine the acceptability, assess opinions,and obtain feedback about group interviews.

Methods:
Panel Group interviews were conducted from October 2010 through the end of February 2011 to assess Internal Medicine Residency candidates at the Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University. A survey of fifteen multiple-choice questions was developed and an email with an online encrypted survey link was sent post-match to all applicants who interviewed at our program. Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous.

Results:
A total of 170 applicants interviewed at our program; 77 (37.7%) completed the online survey. The majority of applicants (62.3%) had no previous experience with group interviews. Overall, 75% liked the group interview and most (63.4%) recommended continued use of group interviews. 59% of applicants felt comfortable pre-interview compared to 78% post-interview (p-value=0.02). Applicants who were comfortable pre-interview had less anxiety or nervousness (p-value=0.03), significantly liked thegroup interview (p-value=0.0021) and were highly likely to recommend group interviews (p-value=0.01).The majority (89%) of applicants felt group interviews wereeffective and most (71%) felt their performance during group interviews was comparable to one-to-one interviews. 90% of applicants found ample time to have their questions answered and almost 80% had no difficulty answering questions during group interviews. About 46% perceived some difficulty impressing faculty during group interviews; International Medical Graduates (IMGs) felt they hada significantly harder time impressing faculty as compared to American Medical Graduates (AMGs) (p-value=0.004). However, anxiety or nervousness levels during group interviews for all applicants were comparable to one-to-one interviews with almost 69% reporting no increased anxiety during group interviews.

Conclusions:
Panel group interviews are well accepted by both AMGs and IMGs and were not perceived by applicants to adversely affect their interview performance. Group interviews allow for efficient utilization of faculty time and may eliminate faculty personality selection bias. Program Directors may wish to consider group interviews as an alternative option to the one-to-one interview process for residency selection and ranking.

Keywords:

Group Interview, Internal Medicine, Residency program, International Medical Graduates.